SAN JOSE -- A Santa Clara County judge has ruled that San Jose must provide city officials' private text messages, emails or other electronic communications about city affairs in response to an activist's request, a potentially far-reaching decision that could settle a growing dispute over what open-government advocates say has become a glaring loophole in the state's public records law.

"This is an important decision," said Peter Scheer, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, a Santa Rosa-based nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing free speech and open government. "It's an important advance. The judge has got to be right. Because if he's not right, then personal email accounts and personal texting accounts would constitute such a huge loophole in open government laws that they would basically render the basic requirements of the law meaningless."

City Attorney Rick Doyle could not say whether the city will appeal because he hasn't discussed the decision with the City Council. But he agreed that its potential would be broad, arguing it could be troubling on both practical and privacy grounds.

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