Court Bars Councilman’s Use of Police Addresses

Santa Ana City Councilman Dan Griset, under fire from local police for mailing political flyers to their homes, was ordered by a judge Wednesday not to use those confidential home addresses for anything but official city business.

But at the same time, Superior Court Judge William F. Rylaarsdam refused requests by the Santa Ana Police Benevolent Assn. to place similar restrictions on all city personnel, not just Griset.

Griset and the police union have been at odds for more than a year over wages and Police Department staffing. The courtroom confrontation over the mailing lists is only the latest chapter in that running imbroglio.

Using a confidential city list, Griset and several staff members in October sent a letter to the homes of about 300 police union members on behalf of the Washington Square Neighborhood Assn. That letter, backing Griset in his successful bid for reelection, criticized the union for endorsing one of Griset’s chief rivals for the council seat.

Police officers complained that access to their home addresses threatened their safety and that of their families, particularly if the lists should wind up in the hands of felons.

‘I’d Like a List, Too’

Lawyers for Griset and the city of Santa Ana argued in court Wednesday that the councilman’s use of the list fell within his proper authority as a city official.

Indeed, Santa Ana City Atty. Edward J. Cooper, responding to a hypothetical question from the judge, said the city would be within its official powers even if it decided to raise needed cash by selling the officers’ home addresses to a mail-order catalogue.

That suggestion clearly bothered Rylaarsdam. “The way you’re talking it sounds like the city has a duty to open up this information to all comers. . . . Well, I’m a drug dealer,” the judge said sardonically, “and I’d like a list, too.”

Although Rylaarsdam avoided comment on Griset’s action, he granted the police union an injunction blocking Griset from using the list for non-city business. A temporary restraining order against him had already been in place. As a city councilman, Griset “has a right to use this information for city purposes,” Rylaarsdam said. “I do not believe he has the right to use it for private or political purposes.”

Griset could not be reached for comment Wednesday. But his attorney, Arthur P. Morello Jr., said the decision “imposes a burden on the city in deciding what’s personal and what’s city business, and that’s a difficult task to administer.”

Seth J. Kelsey, an attorney for the police union, acknowledged some disappointment over Rylaarsdam’s refusal to impose a broader order protecting officers’ addresses but asserted that the union had gained the victory it sought.

“The evil which we sought to deter is met by the judge’s ruling against Griset,” Kelsey said later Wednesday.

“We couldn’t rely on Griset to keep (the list) confidential, and now we’ve got the court backing us up on that,” he said. “Our fear was that he would use (the list) in a vendetta fashion against the police association, to get even.”