The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

City violated Brown Act, judge rules

By Steve Enders

The San Jose Mercury News and former Mayor Frances Rowe have emerged as winners in a long legal battle that began when Rowe was kicked out of office in 1994.

Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Richard C. Turrone ordered the city Feb. 25 to give documents to the Mercury News detailing why Rowe was kicked out of office.

The city can, however, "redact," or censor, portions of the documents, which include three personal memos of City Attorney Valerie Armento.

Armento refused to comment on the ruling, but Sunnyvale Mayor Jim Roberts said he was "disappointed" with the court's ruling.

"We should have won the whole thing," he said. "We did win in protecting the city attorney's right to privacy, though."

The Merc filed the suit in 1995, claiming the city was in violation of the Ralph M. Brown Act for holding a series of closed meetings and refusing to release documents pertaining to them.

Roberts said, "The judge is going to allow us to protect the city attorney's privacy in some areas but concluded that the hearing should have been open.

"How could we have done both those things? That's the question I'm wrestling with."

It was during those meetings that the City Council decided to remove Rowe from her mayoral seat. The City Council also banished her from City Hall, except to attend regular council meetings.

The court found that the closed City Hall meetings were held to discuss Rowe's conduct toward City Attorney Valerie Armento. The majority of the City Council "were busy imposing informal, and then formal, sanctions against Rowe," the court record states.

The court also found "that the public's need to know prevails" over the rights to privacy of its employees.

"The public interests of the citizens of Sunnyvale in knowing that there were serious allegations being made about an incumbent legislator far outweigh any interest the city had in attempting to resolve or mediate the 'personnel' dispute between Rowe and Armento," the decision states.

The documents the Mercury News was seeking were obtained by The Sun last year. In those documents, city staff alleged that Rowe created a hostile work environment and harassed employees.

Rowe insists that members of city staff and the City Council have long been involved in a conspiracy against her. The conspiracy, she says, includes her being ousted as mayor and the city's attempt to cover up why she was removed.

Rowe said, "I feel very good [about the judgment]. Just wait until the documents are released.

"If our public officials lie to the courts," she added, "how can the citizens and businesses of Sunnyvale have any faith in the city government?"

Sunnyvale mayor Roberts said the city didn't divulge the documents earlier because they dealt with private matters.

"We offered to give up a portion of the documents, but the Mercury wasn't happy. They wanted to be the ones to decide what they wanted to print. And I can understand that," he said.

"The judge said to redact a portion of it [that deals with Armento], and that's OK."

Rowe's involvement in the Mercury News lawsuit has only consumed a portion of the 16 hours she says she spends every day fighting the alleged city conspiracy.

A large amount of her energy has gone to fighting a complaint filed to the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), which alleges she did not document campaign contributions properly during her 1995 re-election campaign.

The FPPC's report says that "she sought to create the appearance that there was a groundswell of public support by showing her campaign drew contributions from among the community."

It further states that "her actions show a high degree of planning and sophistication."

Rowe was found guilty of 14 counts of fraudulent campaign contributions and paid a $28,000 fine to the FPPC.

She lost her re-election bid and is hoping to use the FPPC's upcoming hearing process to subpoena members of the Sunnyvale city staff, whereby she said she hopes they will have to testify on their involvement with her. During these hearings, Rowe said she hopes the entire conspiracy will be revealed.

Rowe is reluctant to talk about the FPPC complaints, but insists her campaign fundraising fraud and silence is all a part of her greater scheme to expose the alleged wrongdoing in City Hall.

"It's all going to come out," Rowe says. "Just wait."

The Mercury News, however, may be the one waiting to get the city's documents. The City Council will meet Tuesday night in a closed session to discuss whether it wants to appeal the ruling. Mayor Roberts said that he isn't sure if the council will want to appeal it.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, March 4, 1998.
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