Thursday, January 23, 2014

Mayor Releases Names, Addies of Tech Moguls Invited to sf.citi Meeting

My recent public records request to Mayor Ed Lee for his list of invitees and attendees to a controversial invitation-only lunch meeting held on December 16, at the office of Salesforce, that I allege was subject to sunshine and open meeting laws, has produced this two-page list of Tech Inc folks and their addies:



The companies included Adobe, Adroll, Advent, Airbnb, AT&T, Autodesk, CBS Interactive, Dolby, Dropbox, EventBrite, Expedia, Facebook, Github, Google, Hipmunk, Jawbone, LinkedIn, Microsoft, One King's Lane, OpenTable, Pinterest, Riverwest, Salesforce, Sigma West, Square, Tagged, Tipping Point, Twilio, Twitter, Trulia, Yahoo, Yelp, Zoosk and Zynga.

I've asked the mayor's office of communications to explain why, if the meeting was private as they claim and not subject to sunshine, did they release the list to me and also where is the list of attendees. Waiting for a response.

In my complaint to the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force alleging the December 16 meeting should fall under open meeting law, and that I believe members of the Board of Supervisors and their staffs, along with the superintendent of schools, were present. The mayor denied that sunshine applies, the Clerk of the Board said no Supervisors or their staffs were present, and the Unified School District said they are not subject to sunshine laws (and I'm waiting to receive calendar for the superintendent which is unquestionably a public document).

However, the calendar for that date for Todd Rufo, head of the mayor's office of economic and workplace development, shows he was at the meeting in question. With at least two City Hall leaders present, the Mayor and his economic adviser, I counter-argue to the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force that this was a passive meeting and as such open meeting laws apply.


The mayor's calendar for December 16 says he chaired the meeting with the Tech Inc executives. One reason I believe the meeting falls under sunshine laws.

It's been one month since that meeting took place, and three joint committees were established in partnership with the Mayor, the Board of Supes and the Unified School District. What have the committees and its members been up to? Only more sunshine can answer the question.

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