LOS ANGELES , CA - A Superior Court judge issued her ruling today in a California Public Records Act petition brought by Metropolitan News-Enterprise to compel the Office of the District Attorney to disclose personnel records of veteran prosecutor Deputy District Attorney Danette Meyers. After considering the parties' briefs, evidence, oral argument and conducting an in camera review of the records, the Court ruled as follows:
"Accordingly, in order to balance the interests in the public's right to know about a candidate's qualifications, the public's interest in candid and frank personnel evaluations, and the individual's interest in keeping their job performance evaluations private, the Court conducted an in camera review of Ms. Meyers' files.
In its review, the Court weighed the potential harm to privacy interests against the public interest in disclosure of Ms. Meyers' records. Specifically, the Court considered how probative the information was on the question of Ms. Meyers' qualifications for office against how damaging the information actually is to the interests of the office and public in candid evaluations, and the privacy interests of the candidate herself.
In its review, the Court weighed the potential harm to privacy interests against the public interest in disclosure of Ms. Meyers' records. Specifically, the Court considered how probative the information was on the question of Ms. Meyers' qualifications for office against how damaging the information actually is to the interests of the office and public in candid evaluations, and the privacy interests of the candidate herself.
Having conducted that review, the information is highly probative to the public's consideration of Ms. Meyers' qualifications for the position of District Attorney. Her consistently excellent reviews show her to excel in the areas that she would be called upon were she to be elected to that position. There is nothing in these reviews that, if disclosed, could be expected to chill the frank and candid evaluation of deputy district attorneys by their supervisors. Finally, there is nothing in these stellar reviews that would adversely impact Ms. Meyers' own privacy - other than some slight embarrassment that she might experience from being identified publically as an outstanding prosecutor for the Office of District Attorney. This conjectural possibility, however, is not a sufficient ground to keep the public from knowing about the capabilities and attributes of this candidate."