Simi Council Won’t Punish Members for Information Leaks

An honor system is the best method of keeping council members from revealing the content of closed session discussions to reporters, the Simi Valley City Council decided Monday.

Without taking a vote on the issue, council members vowed to redouble their efforts to keep such discussions hush-hush.

“The purpose of a private conversation is to be private,” Councilman Paul Miller said before Monday night’s meeting. “If we’re talking about litigation and personnel information, that should be private. Why expose the city to unnecessary risk?”

Miller had asked the city attorney to look into the possibility of an ordinance, resolution or code of ethics governing closed session talks after a leak to the press in September.

That’s when someone divulged that Police Chief Randy Adams had apologized during a closed session for not informing council members how his department would monitor a charity event hosted by the Hells Angels.

A report written by City Atty. John Torrance essentially says that council members can be encouraged but not forced to remain quiet.

Although council members could have passed a measure to stem leaks, none of those deterrents would have had any teeth, Torrance noted.

Although sympathetic to journalists trying to gather information, council members decided secrecy is the best policy.

“If you say no comment, that’s going to be the end of it,” said Councilman Bill Davis. “A code of ethics or a code of conduct, that doesn’t make a difference.”

His colleagues agreed, commenting on reporters’ abilities to coax information from normally cautious elected leaders.

Instead of changing laws governing closed sessions, Councilman Barbara Williamson jokingly proposed a different solution.

“Maybe if we start giving them all wrong information--and they start printing wrong information--they’ll leave us alone.”