Last night, I had my first chance to speak with Southeastern Economic Development Corp. Corporate Counsel Regina Petty, who has not provided complete records of her billing for work she does for SEDC, despite a California Public Records Act Request which has been pending since early September.
Petty has not been returning my calls.
Unfortunately, the only real chance I had to speak to Petty was in the middle of the public meeting, as the board of directors convened into closed session. As the board was filing out into a back room, I grabbed the opportunity to ask Petty whether she will provide me with the documents.
“You’re interrupting our meeting,” she said.
I then asked SEDC Board Chairman Cruz Gonzalez if he has spoken to Petty about the documents. He said he had, but that he thought the bills had been made available. I explained that while we did, indeed, receive some of Petty’s invoices from SEDC on Wednesday, those documents did not contain details about the number of hours Petty has worked or how much she has billed the agency.
Gonzalez said he would talk to Petty again.
“You’ve made your point, we’ll get you those documents,” he told me.
Gonzalez is one of three board members who have promised me they will ensure the public gets to see the legal bills. So far, Gina Champion Cain, Gonzalez and Rich Geisler have all said they will ensure that the documents are made available.