Proposal to Punish News Leaks Withdrawn

Facing growing opposition, Orange County Supervisor James Silva on Tuesday unexpectedly withdrew a proposed ordinance that would have punished fellow supervisors and staff with jail time for leaking information from closed-door meetings.

Silva withdrew the ordinance at the board meeting before any public testimony was heard, saying that the county’s district attorney told him in a meeting that several state laws would supersede his proposal.

“I learned last week that existing codes to state laws are enough to have a member of the board removed from office,” he said.

No county in the state has made a crime out of information leaks.

Silva and other supervisors acknowledged the mounting opposition. Dozens of news organizations, including The Times, said the proposed ordinance was unconstitutional and would have a chilling effect on whistle-blower protections.

The danger in such an ordinance, Glen A. Smith, an attorney for The Times and other newspapers, wrote in a June 3 letter to the board, is the potential for vindictive political prosecution of foes.

Under Silva’s proposed ordinance, violators would have been charged with a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Although some supervisors, including Chairman Charles V. Smith, said they agreed with the proposal’s concept, they felt the punishment was too severe and could not have supported it.