The California Public Records Act is a vital piece of legislation, enshrining the rights of access and the principles of sunshine into the state’s constitution, asserting that “access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business is a fundamental and necessary right of every person in this state.”
Unfortunately, as history has taught us, rights don’t mean much unless you have people to protect them. And that’s why we want to take this chance to express our gratitude for Paul Nicholas Boylan, a Davis attorney who is receiving a James Madison Freedom of Information Career Achievement award from the Society of Professional Journalists of Northern California.
You might think you’re not familiar with Boylan’s work, but you’re probably wrong.
If you read detailed reporting on the embezzlement allegations that recently rocked the Humboldt County Fair Association (“Anatomy of an Embezzlement,” Jan. 26), that was based on financial records Boylan’s work forced into the public domain. And you might recall our coverage of an arbitrator’s ruling overturning the firing of former Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Jason Daniels — a ruling that minimized his sending of racist and sexist text messages, among other things, describing them as “off-color” joking and finding they were “embedded in the culture” of the department. It was Boylan’s litigation that dragged the ruling into the light of day (“Embedded in the Culture,” March 31). Then there’s the video of a Eureka police officer stomping on the back of a juvenile suspect that the city fought for years to keep confidential until Boylan got it released, setting a statewide precedent that officers have no expectation of privacy when standing in front of government purchased cameras mounted on the dashboards of their patrol vehicles (“Arrest Video Can’t be Kept Confidential, Appellate Court Rules,” July 21, 2016).
In each of these cases, each of us had an inherent right to the documents in question but it wasn’t enough that a media organization asked for them. We needed Boylan to go to bat for them.
You see, there’s a power imbalance at play when it comes to public records. We the people can ask for whatever records we want, but it’s then up to the public agency holding them to determine if they exist and whether the law requires they be released. If the agency determines the answer to either of these questions is no, we’re left with two choices: Take the agency’s word for it or take it to court. It’s worth noting here that while most of these agencies have staff attorneys, the Journal does not.
This is where Boylan comes in, willing to take public access cases on contingency — meaning he doesn’t get paid anything from his newspaper clients but will instead seek to have a judge order his fees be paid by the government agency in question, should it be found to have illegally withheld records.
It’s not a stretch to point out that most lawyers — especially ones with Boylan’s talent and resume — can find more stable, lucrative work in other areas. But Boylan does this work because he believes in it, because he believes he can play a crucial role in protecting the public’s right to know.
Whether it’s a denied records request or a pre-publication threat of a libel lawsuit from the subject of a sexual assault allegation, Boylan is the Journal‘s first call when legal issues arise. For close to a decade now, he’s exhibited a consistent willingness to help us keep Humboldt County informed, often putting in work with no expectation or even hope he’ll be paid.
The preamble to the CPRA itself states, “The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for the people to know. The people insist they may retain control over the instruments they have created.”
It’s lawyers like Paul Boylan who make sure these are more than just words on a page. There aren’t enough of them, and we can’t think of anyone more worthy of a career achievement award from a group of journalists.
Thadeus Greenson (he/him) is the news editor at the Journal. Reach him at (707) 442-1400, extension 321, or wthad@northcoastjournal.com.
This article appears in Between Prejudice and Profit.
