Public employee information such as salaries belongs to
taxpayers according to the law
The key to effective democracy is an informed electorate that holds public officials accountable.
That’s why we have open government laws – like the Brown Act – that require that the people’s business be conducted in public.
That’s why secret meetings and secret programs – like those that the current presidential administration is so fond of – are such a threat to our democracy.
And that’s why it’s important that salaries of public employees be made available to the people who pay those salaries: taxpayers.
Despite that, the city of Morgan Hill recently refused The Times’ requests for names, titles and salaries for about 35 of Morgan Hill’s top managers and their assistants. Instead, it released names, titles, and salary ranges.
The public’s right to know and its duty to hold officials accountable for the ethical, competent management of government simply trumps the individual right to privacy of public employees.
For public employees, that’s simply a fact of life.
The matter is now before the California Supreme Court, in a case stemming from Oakland’s refusal to comply with a similar request from the Contra Costa Times. Several municipalities in recent years have refused to divulge specific salary information, citing privacy rights.
In the Oakland case, the media prevailed in lower courts, but the city and its public employee unions appealed to the state’s highest court.
However, state law is clear. According to a legislative update from the California Newspapers Association, “In California, all public records are subject to disclosure unless the Legislature has expressly provided to the contrary.”
Or, as Chief Justice Ronald George put it during a Supreme Court hearing on the matter, “I don’t understand what is so personally intrusive about knowing what somebody on the public payroll is earning. Doesn’t the public have a right to know?”
After all, citizens know what public employees like the president, vice-president, senators, governors, state legislators, county supervisors, city council members, and so on, earn. Detailed compensation information for executives at publicly traded companies is also public information, by law, so that shareholders can hold management accountable.
In addition, “Historically this information has been widely accessible,” Tom Newton, general counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Association, told reporter Tony Burchyns.
Further, unions’ attempts to use scare tactics about exposing public employees to identity thieves don’t hold up to scrutiny.
“This information has been made public in the past with no record of abuse,” Newton said. “When the judge asked for examples, the unions couldn’t pinpoint a single incident.”
We’re disappointed that Morgan Hill officials chose to ignore the law and to place public employees’ interests above the interests of city residents in this matter.
We’re confident that the state Supreme Court will clarify the matter in the favor of citizens when it rules on this matter next month.
