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Alameda County District Attorney violates Public Records Act
A short article about the Alameda DA refusing to release records which show a pattern of nepotism in hiring by his office
About six months back, I discovered a pattern of nepotism in hiring at the DA's office in Alameda. I saw an old article in the local legal paper, (would give credit, but not sure which one it was) and followed up on the lead.
It turned out the nepotism had gotten far worse after the first criticisms.
Alameda District Attorney Thomas Orloff routinely hires the children of the judges on the criminal courts. In this way, he ensures the judges are friendly to his side in cases.
This nepotism is much greater in Alameda than in all the other five Bay Area counties, plus Sacramento, COMBINED.
I did my research using Bar records, so I was only finding laywers in that office, but there are about as many non-lawyer staff as there are lawyers, (secretaries, paralegals, and investigators) so I asked Alameda County Human Resources Director Doris Eaton-May for a list of all the non-lawyer staff in the office.
She gave the case over to the DA, who refused to give up the information.
This refusal is not legal. These are the types of records the Public Records Act makes public.
They claim I might misuse the information -- yeah, Orloff, to show how much nepotism you are involved in --
But the truth is, the Public Records Act says if you give information to one person, you must give it to all, and conversely, if you do not give it to one, you must not give it to all. -- So, from a legal standpoint, they are claiming, beause one person might misuse this information, no one is ever entitled to see it.
This is clearly not in the public interest, and they do not say it outright, but that is the inescapable logic of their arguement.
I just wanted everyone to know what is going on in that office.
My web page is http://www.alamedacountyda.com
and the sup page on nepotism
http://www.alamedacountyda.com/Nepotism.html
It turned out the nepotism had gotten far worse after the first criticisms.
Alameda District Attorney Thomas Orloff routinely hires the children of the judges on the criminal courts. In this way, he ensures the judges are friendly to his side in cases.
This nepotism is much greater in Alameda than in all the other five Bay Area counties, plus Sacramento, COMBINED.
I did my research using Bar records, so I was only finding laywers in that office, but there are about as many non-lawyer staff as there are lawyers, (secretaries, paralegals, and investigators) so I asked Alameda County Human Resources Director Doris Eaton-May for a list of all the non-lawyer staff in the office.
She gave the case over to the DA, who refused to give up the information.
This refusal is not legal. These are the types of records the Public Records Act makes public.
They claim I might misuse the information -- yeah, Orloff, to show how much nepotism you are involved in --
But the truth is, the Public Records Act says if you give information to one person, you must give it to all, and conversely, if you do not give it to one, you must not give it to all. -- So, from a legal standpoint, they are claiming, beause one person might misuse this information, no one is ever entitled to see it.
This is clearly not in the public interest, and they do not say it outright, but that is the inescapable logic of their arguement.
I just wanted everyone to know what is going on in that office.
My web page is http://www.alamedacountyda.com
and the sup page on nepotism
http://www.alamedacountyda.com/Nepotism.html
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I got some more information. In Sacto county, there is a section of the County Charter which forbids nepotism.
In the Alameda County Charter, the District Attorney's Office is the only department. Say that again, the ONLY department, which is not subject to civil service hiring rules.
It's no mystery why there is corruption, there is simply no rule against it.
In the Alameda County Charter, the District Attorney's Office is the only department. Say that again, the ONLY department, which is not subject to civil service hiring rules.
It's no mystery why there is corruption, there is simply no rule against it.
For more information:
http://www.alamedacountyda.com
I got some more information. In Sacto county, there is a section of the County Charter which forbids nepotism.
In the Alameda County Charter, the District Attorney's Office is the only department. Say that again, the ONLY department, which is not subject to civil service hiring rules.
It's no mystery why there is corruption, there is simply no rule against it.
In the Alameda County Charter, the District Attorney's Office is the only department. Say that again, the ONLY department, which is not subject to civil service hiring rules.
It's no mystery why there is corruption, there is simply no rule against it.
For more information:
http://www.alamedacountyda.com
Recently, (January 2007) a lawsuit was filed against TOm Orloff, for sexual discrimination in employment, by one high level woman in the office, Angela Backers on the Death Penalty team.
Backer's claims have not been proven, but coverage of her lawsuit has revealed a previous lawsuit, also for discrimination in employment, which was filed about two years back and has since been settled.
The woman who filed that lawsuit probably contacted me. Unfortunately, I don't have adequate notes for that conversation, but she had many many examples of relatives working together in that office, and the local courts in general.
Why so many relatives working in that office and the courts generally? Because they are great jobs, high paying, easy, and with great benefits.
Too great, with all the perks.
It will be interesting to see how this works out. I think the lawsuit will be quietly settled or dropped, regardless of if it has merit or not. I would not be surprised if it barely makes the papers when dropped, as so many times issues just disappear.
Backer's claims have not been proven, but coverage of her lawsuit has revealed a previous lawsuit, also for discrimination in employment, which was filed about two years back and has since been settled.
The woman who filed that lawsuit probably contacted me. Unfortunately, I don't have adequate notes for that conversation, but she had many many examples of relatives working together in that office, and the local courts in general.
Why so many relatives working in that office and the courts generally? Because they are great jobs, high paying, easy, and with great benefits.
Too great, with all the perks.
It will be interesting to see how this works out. I think the lawsuit will be quietly settled or dropped, regardless of if it has merit or not. I would not be surprised if it barely makes the papers when dropped, as so many times issues just disappear.
For more information:
http://alamedacountyda.com
Sorry, I meant to write that the previous lawsuit was based on nepotism benefitting insiders, not sexual discrimination. It would be really interesting to know how much money was paid in settlement, but the BOS is very unlikely to give that info out
For more information:
http://alamedacountyda.com/Nepotism.html
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