Mayor Lurie broke law by keeping Trump call records secret, S.F. committee says

"Mayor Daniel Lurie's office has violated California public-records law by refusing to release information about the mayor's October call with President Donald Trump, a committee of city public-records commissioners ruled on Tuesday. The pivotal conversation between the two men preceded the president cancelling a planned "surge" of immigration agents to the Bay Area. A three-person committee of the city's Sunshine Ordinance Task Force, the body responsible for compliance with the city's public-records law, said Tuesday that Lurie's office had broken the California Public Records Act by claiming records related to the Oct. 22 call, including any logs, transcripts, and notes, are exempt under "attorney-client privilege.""

"While it was possible that some records related to the call were exempt, the committee concluded, it was unlikely that all of them were. The committee ruled unanimously that the mayor's office applied "inappropriate standards for withholding privileged documents," said Dean Schmidt, an attorney and chair of the Sunshine Task Force. It recommended that the full task force take up the issue and order Lurie to "produce all non-privileged documents" related to the phone call."

"Lurie and Trump spoke on the phone the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 22, after a coterie of billionaires reportedly facilitated a detente when Trump promised a Bay Area-wide immigration enforcement blitz. Though the content of the call was widely reported, the sources of information for that reporting have been people within the mayor's office. Supervisor Jackie Fielder and others have publicly expressed concern that not everything discussed between Lurie and Trump has been disclosed."

A three-person committee of the city's Sunshine Ordinance Task Force found that Mayor Daniel Lurie's office violated the California Public Records Act by withholding records related to an Oct. 22 phone call with President Donald Trump. The committee said some records might legitimately be exempt but concluded it was unlikely that all records claimed under attorney-client privilege were exempt. The committee unanimously called the office's withholding standards inappropriate and recommended the full task force require production of all non-privileged documents. The call preceded a cancelled immigration enforcement "surge"; reporting relied on sources inside the mayor's office, and some officials expressed concern about undisclosed details.

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