Five years have passed since Independent took city to court over

salary list

Eron Ben-Yehuda

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- Six years ago, Independent editors asked city

officials for a list of the top 25 highest-paid city employees.

Their answer was quick: no way. And that wasn’t all. A lawyer in the city

attorney’s office told the editors: It may be public information, but you

don’t have the financial resources to withstand a long legal battle to

get the salaries released. The city, he said, has deep pockets, and the

information will never be made public.

And so began a yearlong legal battle. With the backing of the Los Angeles

Times -- a sister newspaper -- the case finally ended up before an Orange

County judge, who quickly ordered the salaries released.

The paper’s success led to California’s first case law on the subject. It

also started a similar examination of public employee compensation

packages throughout Southern California.

“I think it’s great,” said Jim Ewert, legal counsel for the California

Newspaper Publishers Assn. “It reinforces the Legislature’s intent that

government operate openly.”

The city had tried to keep the door shut. The lockout began in 1994,

after a former resident, Leon McKinney, requested access to the total

compensation packages of the city’s top 25 employees.

City Atty. Gail Hutton argued that disclosing the names and exact

compensation of city employees violated their privacy rights.

The Independent took up McKinney’s cause by filing a California Public

Records Act request, which was denied. After numerous attempts to get the

information released, the paper filed suit.

When the case came up for a hearing in July 1995, a judge dismissed

Hutton’s claims with little fanfare. He ordered the city to pay all of

the Independent’s legal fees, which reached $12,000.

“I think it’s a shame that the city resisted so vehemently against what

the newspaper industry feels is very clear statutory law on the issue,”

Ewert said.

But even now, some city officials said they don’t agree with the

decision.

“One should be allowed some privacy in their lives,” Councilwoman Shirley

Dettloff said.

The list represents little more than city employee bashing, she said.

“The list only has value if you’re looking to find fault,” she said.

Morale at City Hall takes a blow, especially when names are published

alongside the person’s salary, said Bill Osness, the city’s director of

personnel.

“The employees feel they have to explain themselves to their neighbors,”

he said. “They feel, I think, defensive.”

But Councilman Dave Sullivan -- who was elected eight years ago on a

platform supporting city reform -- said he supports “the public’s right

to know.”

“After all, the city employees are, in the last analysis, the employees

of the citizens of Huntington Beach,” Sullivan said. “And as their

employers, they have a right to know that information, since they pay

their salaries.”

As much as Sullivan would like to control the rise in salaries and

benefits, he said he can’t do it alone.

“This is a democracy,” he said. “It takes four [council] votes.”