Der Feuer gets rebuked by Senate

Steven Greenhut: Assemblyman Mike Feuer, D-Los Angeles, has gone from friend of open government to champion of governmental secrecy. Not long ago, he argued correctly that opening children’s court to the public and media was the best way to ensure accountability, but lately he has seen the light, or perhaps the darkness. He has become an impassioned defender of secrecy of the most sordid kind.

He had championed a noxious police-union, muscle-flexing bill that would have allowed cops and other categories of the government elite to keep their personal property information secret. This was such a bad bill that the Senate killed it in committee, even though Der Feuer’s Assembly colleagues passed it 68-0. When it comes to ingratiating themselves to cop unions, Republicans and Democrats always try to outdo each other.

Feuer argued that criminals look up the personal property records of cops and then commit crimes against them. Only problem — there’s no evidence this ever happened. There have been incidents of criminals following cops home, but this has nothing to do with property records.

Der Feuer was perfectly content undermining the entire system of open government records that protect the integrity of property transactions. Once you make any exemptions, the whole system falls apart because people can no longer count on knowing who is buying and selling properties. The Feuer bill should have been called the Protect Corrupt Government Officials Who Pull Property Scams Act or the Help Deadbeat Cops Screw Their Ex-Wives Out of Property Settlements Act, given the likely results.

No matter. Feuer was doing the bidding of his union allies, but fortunately there are at least a handful of adults left in Sacramento.

JUNE 21, 2012