The council, on the recommendation of the city attorney, could not give him his investigation because of the lawsuit, but two days after the council meeting on March 23, the judge gave Fisk the injunction to keep the records from Risch.

Risch maintains that the request for records was not a personal attack on Fisk.

However, in November, the Public Safety Officers Association, led by Fisk, campaigned heavily for Risch's opponent Melinda Hamilton, who won the election and replaced Risch on the council.

Risch said he wanted the time cards to determine if Fisk was working on given days, to determine if time being charged to the city was done so lawfully.

Risch said that some of the dates in question were ones in which he thought Fisk was taking part in political campaigning rather than public safety work.

Citing concern for the safety of officers and their families, Santa Clara County

Superior Court Judge Kevin E. McKenney granted Fisk's attorney Harry Stern's restraining order and injunction against the city of Sunnyvale, preventing the intended release of Fisk's time cards to Risch.

"There is ill will toward public safety officers in our society," McKenney said in his decision. "The potential for harm toward a public safety officer or his or her family is significant. This safety concern must prevail over the public's right to access these records."

Fisk—who called for the investigation to answer allegations he thought Risch was bringing against him—said that he agreed with the judge's decision, but if the public still needed reassurances that nothing illegal happened, he would submit to an internal investigation.

At the March 23 council meeting Fisk asked for a Chief's Case review into his personal records to clear his name of any allegations—including the suggestion that Fisk may have been involved in personal or political business when he should have been working as a public safety officer.

"It not that I felt I needed to conceal anything from Tim, it's just that it starts everyone on a slippery slope that we don't want to be on," Fisk said, in response to the judge's comments that a time card contained information that put officers at risk.

"The weekly timecard shows the date and time in and out," McKenney said in his decision. "The overtime card shows the date and the start and finish time. In the wrong hands, this information could provide an accurate schedule of when the officer is regularly on duty and away from their home."

Risch said that his intention was never to cause harm, but rather to make sure his city employees were kept accountable, a position the city supported in originally agreeing to release the cards.

"In no way would I want to do anything that would put any of our officers in harm's way, but I agree with the city attorney that the release of the requested timecards would in no way endanger our public safety employees," Risch said in response.

Because of the seemingly insignificant nature of the time cards, the efforts Fisk, his attorney and the PSOA undertook to prevent their release drew the attention of City Attorney Valerie Armento. In her memorandum opposing the restraining order, Armento said that not only did the efforts raise suspicion, but also hindered a city's duty to be accountable to its citizens.

"The hue and cry being generated over release of an otherwise innocuous timecard raises the specter that indeed there is something to hide. [The city of Sunnyvale] wants no part in any such tumult," Armento said. "To make it unduly burdensome for a member of the public to review timecard information, especially when it is as intrinsically tied into the budget as it is in Sunnyvale, diminishes the role of citizens in local government and runs directly counter to the public concepts of open government."

In light of the ruling, Risch said he would continue to pursue any legal means available to get the records released.