Hundreds of business and personal e-mail addresses mistakenly were released by a state aide assisting California's fledgling redistricting commission this week to people who had asked to keep abreast of the panel's developments.
Instead of hiding its distribution list, the commission's communication displayed each e-mail address Tuesday in providing notification of plans to hire a budget officer at a salary range of $4,424 to $5,339 per month.
Commission Executive Director Dan Claypool said the error was made by the secretary of state's office, which is assisting the redistricting panel until it can finish hiring staff.
The new 14-member citizens commission, created by passage of Proposition 11 in 2008, is responsible for determining legislative, congressional and Board of Equalization district boundaries by Aug. 15.
About 700 personal and business e-mail addresses were on the panel's distribution list, which did not contain other personal information except that first and last names were elements of some e-mail addresses.
The secretary of state's office sent a written apology today to those affected by the mistake.
"The e-mail was a clerical error by someone who was substituting for the regular staffer who sends e-mails," the prepared statement said.
"(California Redistricting Commission) staff will make sure to send all future e-mails with hidden e-mail addresses."
** Amended at 5 p.m. to clarify that the secretary of state's office made the error in its capacity as temporary staff for the redistricting commission.
Latest posts:
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.