San Franciscans will soon have carte blanche to peek at every “OMG,” “np!” or “:P” from the city’s highest government office.
Following inquiries from The Standard, Mayor Daniel Lurie has flipped: He’ll now let you read his text messages.
It’s a decision that may have repercussions and become a prominent example of compliance as other public officials statewide flout the California Public Records Act.
Initially, Lurie’s office declined to share his text messages with the public, despite the fact that those concerning taxpayer business — essentially any city government work — were deemed public records in the landmark 2017 California Supreme Court case San Jose vs. Ted Smith. Text messages about personal business are not subject to disclosure.
In an interview in the mayor’s office, Lurie told The Standard he believes his team was in line with past city policy. But his office will comply with public record requests going forward.
“In our early days we were figuring out how to do all this,” Lurie said. Now, “we will be handing over texts.”
The update comes just two weeks after The Standard published a report detailing attempts to wrangle text messages from the mayor’s office under the city’s Sunshine Ordinance, an open records law, and the California Public Records Act.
The mayor’s office responded by essentially claiming the text messages did not exist — even when records requests to the other party in the conversation were successful.
Advocates for open government lambasted Lurie for stuffing the text messages away from the public eye. The records are key for transparency on how government officials spend taxpayer money and make decisions affecting the citizenry, they said.
UC Irvine School of Law adjunct professor Susan Seager said Lurie’s decision to comply with the law shouldn’t earn accolades.
“It’s about time that the mayor finally decided to obey the law. We shouldn’t be thankful that our elected officials decide to stop breaking the California Public Records Act — it’s part of their job,” Seager said.
Media attorney Karl Olson — who successfully argued San Jose vs. Ted Smith in 2017 — said California officials have been increasingly shielding records from the press and the public.
Among them are former San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who deleted her text messages to San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott; former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, who violated the CPRA by failing to search personal emails and texts for messages about city business; and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who deleted texts related to the Palisades wildfire.
“One thing that all of the mayors that don’t do it share in common is they always get caught in scandals. I don’t think that’s a coincidence,” Olson said. “I think [Lurie] could really set a good example; if he did, I think other cities and other mayors might follow.”
It’s not clear for how long Lurie will preserve his text messages. The mayor’s office said it is still developing its retention policy.
The state Supreme Court offered guidance in its 2017 ruling, stating that agencies “might require that employees use or copy their government accounts for all communications touching on public business.” That’s something federal officials already are required to do, the court wrote.
It would almost certainly mean more paperwork. But that isn’t going to deter Lurie from complying with open records laws.
“I think the Sunshine [Ordinance] stuff makes things challenging,” the mayor said. “But we’re going to abide by it.”