Monday, Oct. 20, 2008 | I am sorry when I must inform a person requesting records that the Public Records Act expressly exempts from disclosure privileged information.
I am sorry that voiceofsandiego.org was dissatisfied in July 2007 when it promptly received a summary of the amounts the Southeastern Economic Development paid to my firm for legal services in response to a Public Records Act request.
I am sorry that I responded by agreeing to perform the task of redacting privileged and confidential information from multiple years of statements for legal services even though there is no legal authority requiring that I do so for this type of document.
I am sorry that in 2007 no one from voiceofsandiego.org ever came to review the redacted statements for legal services which took some time to prepare.
I am sorry that voiceofsandiego.org‘s attention to its own Public Records Act requests unexpectedly vacillates from indifference to exclusive focus.
I am sorry that when voiceofsandiego.org recently renewed its request for the records the SEDC staff was unable to immediately locate the documents from 2007 so that the redaction task had to be performed again.
I am sorry that there were extra demands placed on my time in September due to the replacement of more than half of the board members of the SEDC.
I am sorry that there were extra demands placed on my time in September because of the additional board and committee meetings that were held by the SEDC.
I am sorry my highest priority in September was attending to the needs of a Board of Directors managing a major organizational transition.
I am sorry that my daughter’s desire that I accompany her as she relocated to France was inconvenient for voiceofsandiego.org.
I am sorry that I shortchanged my daughter by delaying the trip to be present for the SEDC Board of Directors meeting on Sept. 24 and limiting the trip to return in time for another agency’s board meeting on Oct.2.
I am sorry that my presence was required at publicly noticed meetings of the SEDC and other agencies on Oct. 2, 9, 10, 13 and 14 so that Will Carless was unable to determine my whereabouts.
I am sorry that Will Carless called me at my home on Oct. 9 while I was attending a publicly noticed meeting at the SEDC.
I am sorry that Will Carless has repeatedly falsely claimed that responses to Public Records Act requests were late.
I am sorry that Will Carless is a bully.
I am sorry that Will Carless did not notice that his abusive conduct caused me to stop taking or returning his telephone calls in early August.
I am sorry that Will Carless cannot discern any real news to use for his blog in light of the global financial, political and social issues of the day.
Editor’s Note: Will Carless has doggedly, yet professionally, pursued open records and answers from an agency that has been extremely reluctant to provide either. While this can sometimes be a tense effort, we stand behind his work.