Oakland Is Sued for Not Disclosing Salaries

Contra Costa Newspapers Inc. sued the city of Oakland on Thursday for refusing to disclose the salaries of high-paid officials.

The Walnut Creek-based newspaper group, which operates the Contra Costa Times, three other daily papers and 12 weeklies, filed the lawsuit after the city denied requests by two reporters for the names and salaries of city employees who earn more than $100,000 a year.

The lawsuit, which alleges that Oakland is defying the California Public Record Act and its own sunshine ordinance, aims to force the city to release the information.

“The information we’re seeking here is at the heart of open government,” said Karl Olson, an attorney for Contra Costa Newspapers, part of the Knight-Ridder newspaper chain. “People making six-figure salaries in government service have to expect public scrutiny.”

In early June, the City Council voted not to reveal how much individual employees were paid after two unions threatened to sue for violations of employee privacy if the city included names along with the salary information. The new policy was adopted in response to requests by the Oakland Tribune newspaper and a local journalist.

City officials said releasing salary information could infringe on the privacy rights of employees, while 1st Amendment advocates argued that the public has a right to know how the city spends tax dollars.

The city attorney’s office would not discuss how it would respond to the lawsuit.

“City employees have a right to privacy under the California constitution. The citizens have a right to know how their money is being spent,” Mayor Jerry Brown said in a statement Thursday. “Reconciling these two rights is a matter about which lawyers, politicians and editors differ.”