JAN I. GOLDSMITH, City Attorney DANIEL F. BAMBERG, Assistant City Attorney CARMEN A. BROOK, Deputy City Attorney (CSBN162592) Of?ce of the City Attorney 1200 Third Avenue, Suite 1100 San Diego, California 92101-4100 Telephone: (619) 533-5800 Facsimile:' (619) 533-5856 Attorneys for Defendant, City of San Diego Sumner Semi Rf Balif?emia, Seunt'g Rf San mega nemesis at seems PM tiled; ?fths Enge?er Emmi By Filing?eeutg Elena; Exempt from fees per Gov?t Code 6103 .To the bene?t of the City of San Diego SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO SAN DIEGANS FOR OPEN GOVERNMENT, Plaintiff, Vt - CITY OF SAN and ALL PERSONS INTERESTED IN THE MATTER OF THE RENEWAL OF THE SAN DIEGO TOURISM MARKETING DISTRICT, THE LEWING OF ASSESSMENTS UPON THE ASSESSED BUSINESSES FOR A PERIOD FO THE THIRTY-NINE AND YEARS, AND THE PRESCRIBING OF A METHOD FOR COLLECTION OF ASSESSMENTS Defendants. I Case No. DECLARATION OF CITY ATTORNEY JAN. I. GOLDSMITH IN SUPPORT OF CITY OF SAN EX PARTE APPLICATION TO REMOVE TRANSCRIPT FROM RESTRICTIONS . OF PROTECTIVE ORDER GED Ex Part6 Hearing: March 4, 2015 Time: 8:30 am. Judge: Joe] R. Wohlfeil Dept: 73 Complaint ?led: December 19, 2012? I, an I. Goldsmith, declare and state as follows: 1. I am the San Diego City Attorney. 1 am submitting this Declaration in response to statements made by Cory Briggs during the ex parte hearing on Thursday, February 26, 2015. 2. On February 20, 2015, I was informed by two reporters that Sarriohia Caociatore (?Cacoiatore?) and Cory Briggs (?Briggs?) are married and. that Caociatore had been working for 1 DECLARATION OF CITY ATTORNEY JAN I. GOLDSMITH IN SUPPORT OF CITY OF SAN EX PARTE APPLICATION TO REMOVE TRANSCRIPT FROM RESTRICTIONS OF PROTECTIVE ORDER Helix Environmental Planning, Inc., (?Helix?) a company that has been under contract (?Helix contract?) with the City of San Diego (?City?) to prepare the City?s environmental documents for over 1.0 years. That was the ?rst I heard of these relationships or the name Cacciatore. They asked for a reaction and I responded by stating we would look into it. The story appeared on February 24, 2015. Mr. Briggs threatened to initiate a contempt citation, claiming ?somebody? leaked to a reporter ?con?dential information [from the transcript which is the subject of this'motion], which is the basis for [the reporters?] story.? That would have been impossible. The transcript at issue covered a deposition that occurred in December 2014. The reporters have stated publicly that they learned information in the story through their own investigation in the fall beginning in September. In fact, before December 2014, the reporter submitted three Public Records Act requests to the City?s Development Services Department about Helix and Cacciatore. 4. After learning this information from the reporters, our of?ce asked staff for some preliminary information. We learned that Cacciatore was Vice President of the Briggs Law Corporation and that she worked on at least one City project that was later the subject of a lawsuit ?led by the Briggs Law Corporation. I was concerned about this because the Briggs Law Corporation has sued the City many times over environmental- reviews. 5. Based upon this information, I sent a formal request to Helix for a ?ll disclosure. A 'copy of my letter is attached as Exhibit There are con?ict of interest protections in the Helix contract. Some of the questions I asked Helix are why the City wasn?t told of this I connection, what steps were taken to keep Cacciatore off City projects and away from City ?les, what City projects did she work on, etc. Helix has indicated it will cooperate. 6. The transcript that is the subject of this motion contains some limited information that we would like to ask Helix to explain. There are other matters in the transcript that might clarify the relationships, but nothing that reveals con?dential information de?ned in the protective order testimony about membership, etc.,l in San Diegans for Open Government). HUN 2 DECLARATION OF CITY ATTORNEY JAN I. GOLDSMITH IN SUPPORT OF CITY OF SAN EX PARTE APPLICATION TO REMOVE TRANSCRIPT FROM RESTRICTIONS OF PROTECTIVE ORDER 1barThe only way I see for the court to ?protect? this sworn testimony is for the court to expand the protective order, but I don't see a legal basis for doing that. 7. To be clear, we have asked Helix - not Briggs or Cacciatore for a full explanation because our contractual relationship is with Helix. We have not accused anyone of improprieties and have not ?led a lawsuit. I I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the foregoing is true and correct. EXecuted this day of March 2015 in San Diego, California. I. Gold ??iiQKD?eclai-ant . 3 DECLARATION OF CITY ATTORNEY JAN 1. GOLDSMITH IN SUPPORT OF CITY OF SAN EX PARTE APPLICATION TO REMOVE TRANSCRIPT FROM RESTRICTIONS 0F PROTECTIVE ORDER EXHIBIT - JAN SAN CITYATTORNEY - - February 25,2015 Via Facsimile. Transmission and US. Mail . - l' - - Mike Schwerin, Chief Executive Of?cer Helix Environmental Planning, Inc. 7578' E1 Caj on Boulevard, Suite 200 La Mesa, California 91942 - (519) 462-0552 Dear Mr. Schwerin: As you. know,?Helix Entdronmental Planning (?Helix?) has been under contract with the City of San Diego (?City?) for over a decade.? The original contract and amendments (?contrac retain Helix to conduct environmental work on a variety of projects. - The contract provides that Helix is ?subject to all federal, state and local con?ict of interest laws, regulations and policies applicable to public contracts and procurement practices, including but not limited to California Government Code sections 1090, etseq. Additional provisions of the contract reinforce this important obligation. We have received information to the effect that Sarichia Cacciatore, an employee or former employee of Helix, was a long?time Vice President of Briggs Law Corporation, a law ?rm that has sued the City over 50 times, and has had a long-standing personal and ?nancial relationship with Cory Briggs, the principal in that law ?rm. We believe some of those lawsuits concern projects involving Helix, including one such project on which Ms. Cacciatore was identi?ed as a project manager. We are not aware of any disclosure to the City of Ms. Cacciatore's relationship with the Briggs Law Corporation or Cory Briggs. Please accept this as a request that you provide the City with a full disclosure in Writing by Wednesday, March 4, 2015, of the following (the term ?City projects? includes any work done at the . request of the City or an applicant to the City): 1. The time period during which Ms. Cacciatore was employed by Helix and her titles and job descriptions. . 2. All disclosures of Ms.' Cacciatore?s relationship with the Briggs Law Corporation or Cory Briggs. and provide copies; OFFICE OF THE CITY 1200 THIRD AVE, DIEGO, CA 92101-4178 Telephone: (619) 236-6220 Fax: {619} E-Maii: ceancloval?isandlegogov Mike Schwerin, Chief Executive Of?cer . 2 February 25, ?2015 3. Efforts, if any, to well off Ms. Caeciatcre from City projects and provide any written evidencelisting of City projects on Which Ms. Cacciatore worked and an explanation of What she did, who she worked under and who she supervised, including outside contractors. Please also provide copies of time records, invoices, e-mails, correspondence, memosand notes pertaining to her Work on any City project; and, . - . 5.. Please provide all communications, Whether by email or otherwise, which mention Cor'y' Briggs or Briggs LawCorporatiori. -- I Please preserve all records involving-Ms. Cacciatore or the City as they Will constitute evidence. These records would include, but are not limited to, personnel records. Finally, we have asked City Auditor Eduardo Luna to review Helix?s records after we receive your response to our requests as permitted under the contract and the law. We would appreciate your cooperation. Thank you. . Sincerely item-?aw - -- JAN cores \k City Attorney'? ngumm I . cc: Paul Creep-er, Exec. Assistant City Attorney Honorable Mayor and Members of the. City Council Andrea Teylin, Independent Budget Anaylst Eduardo Luna, Independent City Auditor Scott Chadwick, Chief Operating Of?cer JAN I. GOLDSMITH, City Attorney I DANIEL F. BAMBERG, Assistant City Attorney CARMEN A. BROOK, Deputy City Attorney (CSBN 162592) Of?ce of the City Attorney Civil Division 1200 Third Avenue, Suite 1620 San Diego, California 92101 Telephone: (619) 236 ?6220 Facsimile: (619) 236?721 5 Attorneys for Defendant City of San Diego SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO Case No. San Diegans for Open Government V. City of San Diego, et a1. 1 Judge: Joel R. Wohlfeil/Dept. 73 EX Parte: March 4, 2015 at 8:30 am. GED DECLARATION OF SERVICE I, the undersigned declare that I am, and was at the time of service of the papers herein referred to, over the age of eighteen years and not a party to the action; and I am employed in the County of San Diego, California, in which county the within-mentioned service oocurred. My business address is 1200 Third Avenue, Suite 1100, San Diego, California, 92101. I served the following document(s): DECLARATION OF CITY ATTORNEY JAN I. GOLDSMITH IN SUPPORT OF CITY OF SAN EX PARTE APPLICATION TO REMOVE TRANSCRIPT FROM RESTRICTIONS OF PROTECTIVE ORDER Cory J. Briggs, Esq. Michael G. Colantuono, Esq. Mekaela M. Gladden, Esq. Jennifer L. Pancake, Esq. BRIGGS LAW CORPORATION Ryan Thomas Dunn, Esq. 99 East Street, Suite 111 COLANTUONO, HIGHSMITH Upland, CA 91786 I WHATLEY, PC Telephone: (909?9497 1 15 300 South Grand Avenue, Suite 2700 Facsimile: (909) 949?7121 Los Angeles, CA 90071 cory@briggslawcorp.co1n Tel: (213) 542-5700 Fax: (213) 542?5710 Attorney Plain and Petitioner Sen Diegans for Open Government RDunnGDohwlawns Attorney for Real Party in Interest San Diego Tourism Marketing District (BY MAIL .I served the individual(s) named by placing a true and correct copy of the documents in a sealed envelope and placed it for collection and mailing with the United States Postal Service this same day, at my address shown above, following ordinary business practices. (BY FAX 1013(e); CRC Rule 2008]) On . I transmitted the above?describ ed documents by facsimile machine to the fax nmnber(s) set forth above or as stated on the attached service list. The transmission originated from facsimile phone number (619)533?5 85 6 and was reported as complete and without error. The facsimile machine properly issued a transmission report, a copy of which is attached hereto. XX ELECTRONIC SERVICE 1010.6]) I caused to be served by electronically mailing a true and correct copy through electronic mail system to the email addressee(s) set forth above, or as stated on the attached service list per agreement in accordance with Code of Civil Procedure section 1010.6. (BY ELECTRONIC SERVICE) By submitting'an electronic version of the do cument(s) to One Legal, LLC through the user interface at (BY OVERNIGHT DELIVERY 1013]) I served the individual(s) named by placing a true and correct copy of the documents in a sealed envelope(s) to be delivered overnight via an overnight delivery service in lieu of delivery by mail to the addressee(s) listed above, or as stated on the attached service list: - (BY PERSONAL-SERVICE 1011]) I'served the individual named by personally delivering the copies to the offices of the addressee. Time of delivery: - Person served: I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on March 2, 2015, at San Diego, California. Wad/?ick Merlita S. Rich PROOF or SERVICE BY MAIL C.C.P. 1013(a); 2015.5