Laserfiche WebLink
document city activities? Councilmembers must comply with the City's <br /> Ethics Resolution, and should behave in ways that build public trust. <br /> Discussion <br /> A. Legal <br /> Under the Data Practices Act it appears it is legal for the City Council <br /> either (a) to commit itself to a policy of not allowing Councilmembers to <br /> use city photos for personal political purposes, or (b) allowing <br /> Councilmembers to use city photos for personal political purposes upon <br /> payment of a reasonable fee. <br /> Although it is vague about whether photographs are public or private <br /> data', nothing in the Data Practices Act mandates that City <br /> Councilmembers must use city photos for political campaigning. Further, <br /> nothing in the Data Practices Act limits the ability of a Council to say <br /> they deem it unethical or inappropriate for Councilmembers to use such <br /> photos for political purposes. <br /> A legal issue does arise when non-incumbent political candidates wish to <br /> use a city photo in their political campaign brochure. Although <br /> incumbent Councilmembers may lawfully choose to limit their own use of <br /> city photos for ethical or other reasons, incumbent Councilmembers <br /> probably lack the legal authority to prohibit private persons from using <br /> city photos for political purposes. Under the Data Practices Act, those <br /> private persons, including political candidates, are free to seek copies of <br /> city photos2 for personal use, including political campaign use, by paying <br /> the requisite photo copying costs. <br /> Hence, my conclusion is that Councilmembers could choose to restrict <br /> themselves from using city photos for political campaign purposes, but <br /> they could not impose the same restriction on private persons running <br /> for political office. <br /> B. Enforceability <br /> I think a ban on Councilmembers using city photos for campaign <br /> purposes is enforceable, at least in the following sense. If a <br /> Councilmember were to use a city photo in a political brochure, it would <br /> be easy to detect. The public distribution of that brochure containing a <br /> 1 Basically, whether a picture is considered public or private data under the Data <br /> Practices Act — and, hence, whether it may be disclosed to the general public — seems to <br /> be a picture-by-picture determination based on who is in the picture and the <br /> circumstances under which the picture was taken. <br /> 2 That is, city photos deemed to constitute public data and, hence, subject to public <br /> disclosure. <br /> 2 <br />