Thread: San Diego:Three news org seek to join court fight over names

Naming day-laborer employers at issue
By Jose Luis Jiménez
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

July 14, 2007

VISTA – Three news organizations, including The San Diego Union-Tribune, are seeking to join a court fight over whether to keep public the names of employers who hire day laborers in Vista.
Online: For more information go to uniontrib.com/more/vistanames

The Union-Tribune, Los Angeles Times and the California Newspaper Publishers Association want the names to continue to be released to preserve the public's right to access government records.

The litigation is in response to an American Civil Liberties Union effort in Vista Superior Court to stop Vista from releasing the identities of employers who register under an ordinance regulating day laborers. The ACLU says making the names public violates the privacy rights of the employers.

The group took the action after Michael Spencer of the Vista Citizens Brigade, an anti-illegal immigration group and an offshoot of the Minuteman Project, filed a public records request last month with the city for the 111 names on the list.

On Monday, Judge Michael Orfield temporarily blocked the release of the names to Spencer. Orfield said balancing the public's right to know with an individual's right to privacy was important enough to warrant a temporary restraining order.

The judge said anyone interested in the issue could join the case and scheduled a July 26 hearing for further arguments before making a final ruling.

The three news organizations asked to intervene in the case yesterday.

“We find the ACLU's privacy rights argument in support of blocking public access to the names of resident employers disingenuous,â€

The employers are committing criminal acts by hiring illegals. Why should it not be released unless the employers are worried that the community is going to be unhappy and not hire them anymore. We release the name of criminals all the time.