Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma

Selective leaking is self-serving

I find it reprehensible that in his letter of October 16 Director Griffiths chose to quote selectively from a document which was not a matter of public record. It was a self-serving act and a betrayal of the legitimate expectations of confidentiality of the board and general manager.

The document itself says unequivocally that he must pay the money back. That is not the focus of my comments here.

Before he included segments of that document in his letter, it was not public; his disclosure made it so and opened it up to a public information request. A reading of the entire document tells the whole story, not the slanted impression that selected portions give.

I believe that RMWD should be able to use confidential memos (which is what this appears to be) to communicate among staff and board members and should have the security of knowing that such communications are private.

This was obviously a preliminary report and not a final decision about how to proceed, since the director had asked for and was apparently granted more time.

A passionate proponent of transparency in government, I firmly believe that there are some things I do not need to know. That a director chose to make this public makes me wonder about the security of other confidential matters at Rainbow, such as discussions from closed sessions.

If the privacy of internal communications is not respected, trust is destroyed.

Helene Brazier

 

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