Judge rules office records of ex-Sens. Calderon and Yee must be disclosed

June 05--REPORTING FROM SACRAMENTO -- A Sacramento County judge this week ruled that meeting schedules, office calendars and other official records of indicted former Democratic state Sens. Leland Yee and Ronald S. Calderon are public records, despite efforts by the state Legislature to block their release.

Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Kenney ruled in favor of a lawsuit brought by the Contra Costa Times, San Jose Mercury News and other news organizations seeking records after Yee and Calderon were indicted on charges of corruption in separate cases.

The state Senate's representatives had claimed that the documents were exempt from public disclosure under the Legislative Open Records Act.

Kenney noted that the information requested by newspapers concerns meetings referred to in federal indictments in connection with alleged bribery and other illegal conduct.

"The public interest in the disclosure of the requested documents is pronounced," Kenney wrote, adding that attorneys for the Legislature failed to prove that "legislative privilege prohibits the disclosure of the requested documents.''

The judge rejected the Legislature's argument that disclosure created a security risk. Both senators were suspended in March 2014. Yee, a San Francisco resident, and Calderon, a resident of Montebello, have since left office.

The judge, however, did block a request for office records of Sen. Kevin de Le󮠨D-Los Angeles), the current Senate leader. Kenney noted that, unlike Yee and Calderon, de Le󮠨as not been accused of any illegal activity in connection with his legislative office.

Kenney found that protecting the integrity of de Le󮧳 "deliberative" process as a legislator outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

San Francisco attorney Duffy Carolan, representing the newspapers, said they were "very happy" with the ruling. She said that attorneys for the Legislature have 20 days to appeal the ruling.

Claire Conlon, a spokeswoman for Senate leader Kevin de Leon, and attorneys for the Legislature, did not respond Friday to requests for comment on the court decision and questions of whether the Senate would appeal.

UPDATE

1:22 p.m.: This post was updated to include more information about efforts to obtain comment from legislative officials.

This story was first posted at 6:45 p.m. Thursday.