XPost: alt.fraud, alt.los-angeles, alt.politics.democrats
XPost: talk.politics.misc, sac.politics

A lot has been happening with the agency that manages homelessness funding
for L.A. city and county.

One of the latest controversies is over public records about alleged
wrongdoing at the L.A. Homeless Services Authority.

As LAist revealed earlier, LAHSA leaders and their attorneys at the County Counsel’s Office have repeatedly refused to release public records about allegations of high-level wrongdoing — including whistleblower retaliation
— that led to $800,000 in taxpayer-funded payouts to settle the claims.

Legal experts told LAist the documents are being unlawfully withheld.

Courts have repeatedly ruled these types of records must be disclosed to
the public under the California Public Records Act, according to David
Loy, a public records attorney at the First Amendment Coalition.

The fact that the claims have been settled — and taxpayer money paid out — makes it even more clear that the public has a right to see them, Loy
said.

The records “clearly should be available to the public,” he added.

LAHSA argues that several exemptions allow it to withhold the
whistleblower retaliation claims Kristina Dixon and Emily Vaughn Henry submitted to LAHSA after they were fired — including attorney-client
privilege.

But Loy says none of them apply. For example, attorney-client privilege is about communications between an attorney and their own client — not claims filed by an outside party.

Dan Kim and Alyssa Skolnick, the attorneys representing LAHSA in refusing
to release the records, work under the county’s top attorney Dawyn
Harrison. They have not responded to Loy’s point-by-point explanation more
than a week ago of why he believes they’re unlawfully withholding the
records.

So…what does the law say, and what could happen next?

Courts have said the public is entitled to see these types of records California laws, including the state Constitution, protect the public’s
right to get copies of government documents.

Those laws include the Brown Act, which requires officials to disclose
legal claims and communications threatening litigation against their
agency — like the records LAHSA has been withholding.

The courts have been clear that legal claims, like the ones LAist
requested, have to be disclosed to the public upon request, Loy said. He pointed to cases like an appellate court ruling against Poway Unified
School District, which found that exemptions like attorney-client
privilege do not apply to legal claims.

Legal claims are usually disclosed by local governments without any issue.

In fact, LAHSA itself says it has disclosed all other legal claims to
LAist — except the ones over whistleblower retaliation filed by Dixon and Vaughn Henry.

How could the documents get released?
One way is LAHSA’s attorneys could change course and disclose them. But
that seems unlikely, particularly after LAist’s repeated requests for disclosure.

Another way is if someone sues and a judge ends up ordering LAHSA to
release the records. But such rulings can take months to reach, and can
rack up attorney fees that are ultimately paid for by taxpayers.

Yet another way is that a majority of LAHSA’s governing commission could
vote to override the attorneys and release the records. The Santa Ana City Council did that years ago with a report about alleged wrongdoing that the
city attorney had withheld.

Half the 10-member LAHSA Commission is governed by Mayor Karen Bass and
the people she appoints. The other half is governed by people appointed by
the L.A. County Board of Supervisors.

The commission can hold a special meeting for a vote as quickly as 24
hours after public notification.

Where does the commission stand?
That’s unclear.

LAist reached out to spokespeople for Bass and the five county
supervisors, requesting comment from them and the LAHSA commissioners they appointed. They either didn’t respond, or declined to comment.

LAist has tried reaching out to the commissioners directly, using email addresses LAHSA staff provided. But most of those emails bounced back
saying messages could not be delivered.

The email account LAHSA staff provided for Bass appears to be an old
mayoral account that hasn’t been active for years.

LAHSA falsely said the records were released — then said otherwise
One of LAHSA attorneys, Skolnick, told LAist on Wednesday morning that she
was disclosing the records for the two claims LAist asked for. A LAHSA
official later said that the records had indeed been disclosed.

But they were not. And after repeated follow ups, Skolnick eventually said
the claims will not be released.

Her supervisor, Katherine Bowser, later stood by the refusal to release
the records, while declining to respond to Loy’s specific points about the
law.

https://laist.com/news/housing-homelessness/la-homelessness-lahsa- whistleblower-payouts-next

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