On Liberty: “… if any opinion is compelled to silence, that opinion may, for aught we can certainly know, be true. To deny this is to assume our own infallibility.” — John Stuart Mill, philosopher and economist, in “Considerations on Representative Government” Let’s have a civics lesson involving the city of Stockton. I requested public records from city officials because of my concern they had not provided proper Measure A financial statements and required audits. My requests were met with a stubborn refusal to provide relevant records that must be produced under the Public Records Act. That stubborn refusal necessitated filing a lawsuit, which was settled in February 2021. The city paid my legal fees of $75,000, provided almost all of the documents requested, plus it promised to provide additional records.