To their credit, Sup. John Avalos and Sup. David Campos both provided me the calendars for everyone in their offices within 24-hours after I filed an Immediate Disclosure Request for those public records. Those records were released in electronic format.
Not so with Sup. London Breed, who's the president of the Board of Supervisors and showing her true colors as no fan of government transparency in a timely and unhindered manner.
Breed received the same request made to Avalos and Campos, for her work calendar from Jan. 1, 2014, through Jan. 31, 2025, in an electronic format. Her aide Conor Johnston wrote:
"Because of the voluminous nature of the documents that we will need to search to respond to your request, and because of the need to consult with another interested department, we are in invoking an extension under the Administrative Code. You will have a response by March 8."
On March 5, Johnston said Breed would give hard copies of her calender to the Clerk of Board, Ms. Angela Calvillo. Not only was Breed failing to comply with my request for records in a PDF and via email, she didn't provide me with the records directly. Here's the reply from Calvillo's office:
"Due to required review, President Breed’s calendar will be provided to you on an incremental, or rolling, basis as soon as it is available pursuant to the Administrative Code. The Office of the Clerk of the Board will be forwarding you with the remaining responsive records immediately upon review and collection."
Required review? Well, that wasn't necessary from Avalos and Campos. I asked Calvillo's aide to simply put the pages in a copier/scanner hit one button to create a PDF and email it to me. You know, provide a public service to the taxpayer. The reply:
"Per President Breed, the Office of the Clerk of the Board is not authorized to reproduce her calendar, and the documents are available for pick-up in hard copy only. The estimated page count is 58 pages, and is available at the standard rate of $.10/page. I will be glad to prepare an invoice/receipt for you upon pick-up at the front desk. If you have specific questions about the content of the records, please contact the President Breed’s office."
What politician instructs the third-party to do nothing to make it easy for requester to obtain the responsive public records? One not adequately committed to the spirit and letter of government transparency. Is Breed playing by the Hillary Rodham Clinton rule book for retention and release of her (the public's really) files created on government time, dime and infrastructure? From Calvillo's aide:
"The calendar was reviewed by President Breed's staff. Again, the Office of the Clerk of the Board is merely facilitating delivery of the documents to you as it was dropped off with us for your pick-up. If you have any questions regarding the format or contents, please kindly contact District 5 staff."
I went to Silly Hall, paid the $5.80 and tried to read Breed's calendar. She printed all 58 pages in super small font. I've made them into a PDF, available here, and thanks to modern technology, which Breed isn't interested in using to make her office transparent, just use the enlarge open to read her calenders without needing magnifying glass.
Welcome to the Breed Era, where she will be an adversary of full and easy sunshine principles. Not an admirable quality in the President of the Board of Supervisors of San Francisco. This matter is a subject for the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force to adjudicate when my complaint comes before them.
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