A California watchdog agency has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the United States Postal Service in response to a continuing battle over public records.
The California Fair Political Practices Commission alleges that the U.S. Postal Service violated the Freedom of Information Act by improperly withholding records regarding the mailing history of former Manhattan Beach Unified School District board member William Eisen, following a 2008 citizen campaign to recall him from the board.
The commission, created in 1974, investigates alleged violations of the Political Reform Act and regulates activities of political officials, including campaign financing and spending, conflicts of interest and mass mailings at public expense.
In November of 2008, the commission received a complaint against Eisen, alleging that he violated California’s mass mailing provisions by distributing mass mailings with false sender information in October of that year. That same month, Manhattan Beach citizens voted to recall Eisen from the school board.
California’s mass mailing provisions state that no candidate can send a mass mailing unless his or her name, address and city are shown outside each piece of mail, and legibly on at least one insert included in each piece of mail.
Through its records request, the commission was investigating whether the mass mailings, which indicated they were from the South Bay Taxpayers Association and a local political club, were actually sent from Eisen himself. In California, a mass mailing is defined as more than 200 similar pieces of mail.
Last July, an investigator sent a subpoena to the postal service for the information. In response, a postal service attorney advised the commission make a FOIA request, according to the suit.
In August, the commission submitted a FOIA request to the postal service’s Business Mail Entry Division in Los Angeles.
According to California Watch, before sending the commission Eisen’s information, a post office official e-mailed Eisen to get consent, to which he refused.
Eisen did not return calls for this article at press time.
Nearly three months later, the postal service sent the information to the commission with much of the contents redacted, according to the suit. To explain the redactions, the postal service cited “FOIA disclosure exemptions pertaining to information of a commercial or financial nature that are privileged and confidential or would not be publicly disclosed under good business practices,” according to the suit.
David Partenheimer, a postal service spokesman, declined to comment on the matter due to pending litigation.
In the suit, the commission claims that “the USPS denial of these claims will effectively shut down enforcement of state and federal laws regarding campaign communication disclosure on mass mailings, thereby depriving the public of the ability to identify and take action against persons in violation of these laws.”
Eisen told California Watch that for the last year and a half he thought the issue was over. “Now I see they’re back on the track, trying to drum up stuff against me,” he said.
