LAKEPORT, Calif. – The county of Lake was ordered Tuesday to pay $110,990 in attorney’s fees and court costs in a suit that determined Sheriff Frank Rivero had engaged in practices that discriminated against Lake County News.
Visiting Judge J. Michael Byrne said that Lake County News’ suit against the county and Rivero was “absolutely necessary” in settling the First Amendment violations against the publication.
John Jensen and Elizabeth Larson – owners of Lake County News – sued Rivero in January because he blacklisted them in October 2012 in retaliation for news coverage he considered unfavorable.
“We sued solely for our rights,” said Jensen, noting Lake County News will not receive any of the award.
Rivero cut Lake County News off from distribution of press releases and other public safety information, and required Jensen and Larson to use the California Public Records Act to obtain documents from the sheriff's department that already had been released to other media, said Davis-based attorney Paul Nicholas Boylan, who represented Lake County News in the case.
“In addition, Jensen and Larson had to drive to the office of the sheriff and pay for copies being made instantly, electronically and free to other county news outlets,” Boylan said.
Boylan said Rivero didn't like what Lake County News was printing about him and Rivero, in turn, decided to hurt them by cutting their news site off from public safety information.
Some of the stories at issue covered District Attorney Don Anderson’s investigation into allegations that Rivero had lied about a 2008 nonfatal shooting. Those articles predated Anderson’s finding this past February that Rivero had lied and Rivero’s subsequent placement on a “Brady list” of officers with credibility issues.
A stipulated judgment filed in the case this spring reinforced Lake County News’ rights to receive public records from the sheriff’s office. It also calls for the Lake County Superior Court to retain jurisdiction in order to allow Lake County News to apply, at any time, for the enforcement of the agreement’s provisions and sanctions or other punishments for violations.
Communications from the sheriff's office remains under court supervision, according to the stipulated judgment.
The award represents about 1.36 percent of the 2012-13 sheriff's budget. County Counsel Anita Grant was unavailable Wednesday to discuss how the judgment would be paid.
“Our coverage has been truthful and accurate, he just doesn't like it,” Larson said. “We tried everything to avoid going to court. The sheriff persisted in his retaliation against us for coverage that he didn't like, leaving us no alternative but to sue him.”
"I think that Frank Rivero should pay for his actions from his own pocket, quit sticking it to the local residents and stop draining already tight budgets intended to provide services to county residents,” Jensen said.
Boylan said Lake County residents will gain from the settlement due to better access to public safety information and improved government transparency.
A recall campaign is working to remove Rivero from office. The recall campaign Web site reports it has collected about 6,000 of the slightly more than 7,000 signatures needed by the deadline of June 26 for the November election.
Rivero was first elected in 2010, defeating long-time sheriff Rodney K Mitchell. In that election Rivero received 11,103 votes, or about 54.2 percent of the 20,488 cast.
The recall campaign and Rivero did not return requests for comment.
Patrick Boylan (no relation to Paul Boylan) is a former Chicago Sun-Times staffer who now runs the Welles Park Bulldog ( www.wellesparkbulldog.com ), an award-winning community news Web site in Chicago, Ill.