Hey all,
I'ts a looonnng story, but here is a brief overview: I requested a copy of the oath of office for my state senator, Senate Pro-Tempore Toni Atkins and her deputy, Jason Weisz. The oaths came back with all signatures redacted, which indicates to me that one or both of the oaths was never fully executed. But they didn't redact the dates, and both oaths had already expired, which means both Atkins and Weisz are currently working unlawfully.
I filed a bond complaint against both Atkins and Weisz and against the two FOIA people who improperly redacted the documents. No word back on that and Atkins is still working.
I have contacted a bunch of republican organizations, who I thought would be eager to get Atkins arrested for violating Government Code sections 1360, 1362-1369 and Section 3 of Article XX of the Constitution of California, which per Title 18 U.S.C. § 912, includes fines and/or three years imprisonment. Also, all the work she's done since the expiration has to be voided (and if she never signed that oath, everything she's ever done has to be voided). Not a peep from any of them, which makes me think that maybe some republicans are working without proper oaths, too.
Curious about who else didn't have properly executed oaths, I made a request for 22 more oaths, including Scott Weiner's. They have a 2-week turn time. It has now been 7-weeks, and the Senate Committee has made it clear that this request will be "in process" indefinitely and never be fulfilled. I complained to his HR about the FOIA people violating the laws by not providing the documents, and HR didn't do anything
Toni Atkins and Scott Weiner are at the forefront of creating and pushing laws to destroy families and transition children behind parents backs. I feel like there are other groups who will run with this information and get them ousted. Do you guys have any suggestions on who I should contact/what other steps I should take?
Here in California, it may be legal to redact signatures in some situations, but in California, we have something called the Brown Act: “The people of this State do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created.” §54950.5, Cal. Civ. Code, Brown Act.
So basically, since we have the right to know if our government officials complied with the laws requiring oaths, we are allowed to see the signature for ourselves to know if the document was properly signed.