Story and photo by Miriam Raftery

April 7, 2013 (San Diego)—Donna Frye, appointed by Mayor Bob Filner to serve as Director of Open Government, has announced her resignation in order to accept the presidency of Californians Aware, a nonprofit organization advocating for open government.

Frye will serve as a volunteer in the position, losing a potential salary of $100,000 a year had she stayed with the City of San Diego.  The resignation took effect immediately.

Terry Francke

March 20, 2013 (San Diego) – The Society of Professional Journalists will honor Terry Francke of Californians Aware (CalAware) with SPJ’s Sunshine Award for his efforts over many years. The  award will be presented on March 27 at 6:30 at the 501 West Broadway office of Sheppard Mullin on the buildings 19th floor.

Francke, currently general counsel for Californians Aware, has a 31-year history of helping journalists, citizens and public officials understand and use their First Amendment and open government rights.

March 23, 2011 (Carmichael, California)– For the third time in five years, Californians Aware (CalAware) has tested state agencies’ responses to very basic requests for public records. Analysis of the results found no measureable improvement overall-with agencies overall averaging a C+--and many flunking requirements of California’s open government laws.

“What, if anything, will Governor Brown do to make further improvements?” asks Emily Francke, executive director of CalAware.