Opinion ID: 422035
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Public Inspection Requirement

Text: 29 More difficult constitutional questions are raised by the provision of LL 48 that permits public inspection of plaintiffs' annual financial reports. The adverse effect of public disclosure on privacy interests is considerably greater than the effect of disclosure to the City; at the same time, the City's interest in public inspection is weaker in significant respects than its interest in obtaining financial information for internal review. Nonetheless, we think the statute, as strengthened by the privacy claim procedures, withstands constitutional scrutiny even with respect to the broad public inspection requirement. 30 As the district court noted, [t]he degree of intrusion stemming from public exposure of the details of a person's life is exponentially greater than disclosure to government officials. 551 F.Supp. at 934 (citations omitted). Plaintiffs contend that public disclosure will impair their autonomy interests by forcing them to redefine their marital and family relationships. The district court found that public filings will reveal in some instances facts that could damage a variety of associations and relationships. 551 F.Supp. at 935. In addition, the district court found that [p]ublic disclosure will directly and materially affect the confidentiality interests of filers and their spouses, id., citing a variety of examples, such as the possibility of an embarrassing revelation that one lives above or below one's means. Id. 31 We recognize that public disclosure of financial information may be personally embarrassing and highly intrusive. Unlike the district court, however, we think that the statute's privacy mechanism adequately protects plaintiffs' constitutional privacy interests. 32 An employee filing a financial report may make a claim of privacy with respect to any item of information sought by the City by explaining in writing the reasons for the request. Privacy claims are not adjudicated by the Board of Ethics unless a request for public inspection is made; while this may leave the filer in a state of uncertainty as to the eventual outcome of his privacy claim should an inspection request ever be made, we do not think that by itself is of constitutional significance. If a privacy claim has been made and someone requests access to the claimant's report, the matter is referred to the Board of Ethics for evaluation. As indicated above, the Board must consider three factors in evaluating a privacy claim: whether the item is highly personal; whether it relates to the claimant's duties; and whether the item involves a possible conflict of interest. 33 We do not think that the right to privacy protects public employees from the release of financial information that is related to their employment or indicative of a possible conflict of interest. Nor do we think the release of information that is not highly personal rises to the level of a constitutional violation. 34 Moreover, the record does not support plaintiffs' contentions that the privacy mechanism is inadequate. According to an affidavit of one of the members of the Board of Ethics, twenty-six privacy claims have come before the Board. Sixteen were granted, six were withdrawn, and one was otherwise disposed of. Only three privacy claims were denied, apparently because insufficient information was provided in support of the claims. 35 When an inspection request is made, the filer is notified of the identity of the person seeking access. According to the City, the filer is then afforded the opportunity to present additional material in support of his privacy claim. If the privacy request is denied, the City informs us that the filer has ten days in which to seek reconsideration by the Board or judicial review. In light of the actual experience with the privacy procedure discussed above, we think this process affords plaintiffs an adequate opportunity to contest the disclosure of any information whose release might violate their right to privacy. 36 The Slevin plaintiffs argue that the affidavits relied on by the City to support its contentions with respect to the actual operation of the privacy claim mechanism are not properly before this court. According to plaintiffs, the affidavits, which were submitted to the district court after trial on a motion for a new trial, are inadmissible because they consist primarily of matter alleged on information and belief, and because plaintiffs did not have an opportunity to conduct discovery, cross-examine the affiants, or introduce rebuttal evidence. Ordinarily, we might be inclined to remand the case to the district court to clarify this issue. But we see no need for that procedure here. 37 The contested affidavits were before the district court on defendants' motion for a new trial, which was denied even in the absence of any rebuttal evidence from the plaintiffs. Moreover, plaintiffs do not contest the accuracy of the information regarding the actual disposition of privacy claims; indeed, they rely on the same facts to support their claim that the privacy procedures are inadequate. 38 Plaintiffs characterize defendants' statements that filers may supplement their privacy claims when a request for access is made, and that filers are given adequate time to seek judicial review when a privacy claim has been denied as a hitherto unknown construction of the statute, but do not actually contest the accuracy of these assertions. We note that Judge Sofaer relied on the affidavits in finding that in practice filers are afforded a meaningful opportunity for judicial review. The statute itself explicitly authorizes the Board of Ethics to establish procedures for the consideration of privacy requests. Accordingly, it is clearly within the Board's power to afford filers an opportunity to supplement existing privacy claims when a request for access is made, and to provide an adequate opportunity to seek judicial review when a claim is denied. We therefore rely on the City's assurances that the privacy mechanism so operates in practice. 39 The City further informs us that a filing employee may specify that he does not want information released to particular persons or groups, and that the Board of Ethics may deny an inspection request if the Board has reason to believe that the person or organization making the request is not acting in good faith or is attempting to obtain the information for some inappropriate or improper purpose. Again, plaintiffs claim that this is a novel and possibly erroneous construction of the statute, and that there is no indication in the record that the Board of Ethics operates in this fashion. Nothing in the statute requires the Board of Ethics to consider the identity of the person seeking access, but nothing appears to bar the Board from doing so either. Whether or not the Board follows the sensible practice of considering the identity of the person requesting access, however, we think the privacy procedure is adequate to protect plaintiffs' rights. We note by way of comparison that courts have upheld financial disclosure laws that hit much closer to home and do not have any similarly broad privacy mechanism. See, e.g., Duplantier v. United States, 606 F.2d 654 (5th Cir.1979), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1076, 101 S.Ct. 854, 66 L.Ed.2d 798 (1981) (upholding Ethics in Government Act). However, in view of the apparent confusion as to the exact operation of the privacy mechanism, the City might be well advised to explain it more fully to the affected City personnel. 40 In any event, we think the City's interest in public disclosure outweighs the possible infringement of plaintiffs' privacy interests. Plaintiffs argue that the City's efforts to deter corruption and conflicts of interest would be as well served by disclosure to the City only as by public disclosure. We disagree. 41 In the City's view, public disclosure will significantly bolster its efforts to deter official malfeasance. The City cites the example of the 1972 Knapp Commission investigation, which uncovered extensive corruption in the Police Department, and determined that despite charges of corruption, no serious official investigation was made until the press publicized the allegations. According to the City, public disclosure of financial reports will spur City agencies and officials to be aggressive in their efforts to police corruption, if only for fear that evidence of misconduct might be found in a financial report and publicized by the press, a public interest group, or a vigilant citizen. In addition, the City contends that public disclosure will enhance public confidence in the integrity of City government if only because the reports will demonstrate that most City officials and employees are honest and not subject to conflicts of interest in the performance of their duties. 42 The district court was not persuaded by the City's arguments. But as the Supreme Court noted in Whalen v. Roe, supra, 429 U.S. at 597, 97 S.Ct. at 875 (footnotes omitted); 43 State legislation which has some effect on individual liberty or privacy may not be held unconstitutional simply because a court finds it unnecessary, in whole or in part. For we have frequently recognized that individual States have broad latitude in experimenting with possible solutions to problems of vital local concern. 44 In this case, we cannot say that it was unreasonable for the City Council to conclude that public disclosure would materially advance the City's attempt to prevent corruption and conflicts of interest. 45 As noted above, plaintiffs also challenge the $30,000 threshold disclosure level. Plaintiffs contend that unlike the plaintiffs in Plante v. Gonzalez, supra, 575 F.2d 1119, or in Duplantier v. United States, supra, 606 F.2d 654, they are not all public figures, nor do they all occupy policymaking positions with substantial discretion over the disposition of valuable goods. They conclude that the pro-disclosure balance reached in Plante and Duplantier is therefore inappropriate here. But the fact that many of the plaintiffs are not public figures or policymaking officials does not immunize them from all possibilities of corruption or conflict of interest. Indeed, as noted earlier, the district court in holding the filing requirement constitutional found that corruption and conflicts of interest are possible in each group of plaintiffs. Given the magnitude of the City's interests, we think the constitutional balance still tips in favor of permitting public disclosure. 46 The district court decided that the potential for corruption does not justify across-the-board, public disclosure of finances. 551 F.Supp. at 940. In addition, the district judge found that the $30,000 level was both overinclusive and underinclusive. Id. at 940-44. 47 We recognize that full disclosure is burdensome, and that some City employees earning less than $30,000 might have opportunities for corruption, while others earning more than $30,000 might not. Moreover, we agree with the district court that the statute would be better if it specified the particular job categories that should be subject to disclosure, and defendants themselves concede that it may now be time to consider raising the threshold for reporting to take into account the effect of inflation since 1979. Nonetheless, we cannot say that the statute must therefore fall. Ordinarily, legislative classifications of this sort must stand unless very wide of any reasonable mark. Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 83 n. 111, 96 S.Ct. 612, 665, n. 111, 46 L.Ed.2d 659 (1976) (per curiam). And the City argues that there are too many positions involved to permit classification by particular job categories, a determination that it is difficult for a court to characterize as erroneous. In any event, however, the burden imposed by an imprecise classification, and by the broad nature of the required disclosure, is mitigated by the statute's privacy mechanism, which permits covered employees to challenge the proposed release of irrelevant highly personal information. Accordingly, we cannot say that the law is unconstitutionally overbroad or that it violates the constitutional right to privacy.