SLO mayor (sort of) apologizes for Grand Jury leak. ‘I would not do it again’ | Opinion

Mayor Erica Stewart has set the record straight: She will never again release a confidential Grand Jury report.

Stewart, who works at Cal Poly, shared a draft of the jury’s report, “Round & Round with Town & Gown,” with a university official. She later said she was under the mistaken belief that Cal Poly had also received an advance copy of the document.

The controversy mostly stayed under the radar until Stewart made a June 15 guest appearance on the KVEC talk radio show hosted by Dave Congalton.

The segment had been billed as an opportunity to discuss San Luis Obispo’s most recent State of the City report, but during a Q&A segment, a caller raised the issue of the leaked Grand Jury repot.

Obviously caught off-guard, Stewart spoke to why she shared a copy of the draft, which was critical of the city’s handling of complaints about rowdy, disruptive parties in residential neighborhoods near campus.

“I believe that the university was already among one of the many stakeholders that had received this letter and the report,” she said, referring to a cover letter that warned recipients not to share the draft.

“Do you believe you’ve broken any laws?” Congalton asked Stewart.

“No, I do not.”

“If you had it to do over again, would you do it over again?”

“I would,” she responded.

‘My short response didn’t reflect my entire thought process’

But in a lengthy email to Congalton, which is posted on the Hometown Radio’s Facebook, the mayor did a 180.

“I would not do it again, if I had the knowledge about the Grand Jury report process that I have today,” she wrote.

She also said she felt rushed when she answered the question.

“As you know, we were heading to a commercial and in a hurry, when I answered that I would do it again. My short response didn’t reflect my entire thought process, and I wish there had been more time to share my thoughts with full context.”

Congalton isn’t having it.

“I must express my disappointment that you somehow feel your controversial comment was caused because ‘you were rushed’ by the 5:29 p.m. commercial break — that somehow you weren’t allowed to share your full thinking on the question,” he wrote in response to the mayor. “We had a whole other half hour to go AFTER that break and I would have gladly accommodated further discussion on the issue, if you chose,”

He also brought up the timing of the apology letter.

“Admittedly, it’s a little puzzling to be hearing from you now,” he wrote.

Exactly.

More than three weeks have passed since this went public on the Congalton show — and quickly blew up into what’s perhaps best described as a middle-weight scandal.

Mayor says 2-week vacation contributed to delayed response

Stewart told The Tribune that she was not able to respond more quickly because she was on a preplanned, two-week family vacation and had no internet access.

When she returned, her attorney was on vacation for a week, further delaying “work on a response,” she said.

It’s understandable that the mayor would want to consult with an attorney, since this is a prosecutable offense.

At the same time, SLO residents deserve more than a carefully orchestrated response three weeks late.

After all, it isn’t just Congalton and his listeners who may have been offended. If anything, members of the Grand Jury were the ones most disrespected.

Even more concerning, the email doesn’t address the underlying violation — it focuses on the conversation between Stewart and Congalton.

More time was spent making excuses than actually apologizing. That was also the case in a recent interview Stewart gave to KSBY.

“I mean, it was a solid, good-faith error. I had no idea that I was doing something wrong,” she said.

City will give guidance on how to deal with Grand Jury reports

In an interview, Stewart told us she is sorry for how she handled the situation and emphasized that her primary goal was to ensure the public had accurate information. (The city disputed several of the Grand Jury’s findings.)

Our position hasn’t changed.

We firmly believe the mayor was unaware that she was doing something wrong. Otherwise, she would not have been so quick to tell Congalton she would do it again.

But that is not a valid excuse for breaking the law, especially for a public official.

And trickling out apologies heavy on excuses is not a good look for the city’s top office holder. Why not call a news conference or make a statement at a City Council meeting?

On the plus side, the city is working on guidelines that will lay out how officials should handle grand jury reports in the future. Good idea, because apparently a cover letter warning that a report is confidential is not clear enough.

Unfortunately, this episode has distracted from the real issue, which is to improve relations between Cal Poly students and full-time residents who live near campus.

A full and proper apology from Mayor Stewart would have gone a long way toward putting this to rest.

It isn’t too late.