They have been called gadflies and kooks and names not suitable for publication. They have also been called heroes.

Say what you will about these plucky citizens who champion open government, but you'll have to agree: They are persistent.

And how.

As California and other states observe Sunshine Week - a national initiative to promote government transparency - we offer a closer look at citizen-watchdogs who have blazed the way.

It's not for the fainthearted.

Rich McKee, a retired chemistry professor at Pasadena City College who frequently rattles government cages, found himself on the hook in 2009 for $80,000 in legal fees from an unsuccessful lawsuit against the Orange Unified School District.

McKee paid the monster legal fees. A subsequent bill by Democratic state Sen. Leland Yee of San Francisco now prohibits public entities from collecting legal fees in open-access cases, unless the court deems the suit frivolous.

"I couldn't afford another loss like that," McKee said.

While Sunshine Week was created by journalists, its mission is to raise awareness about the public's right to know what its government is doing, and why. In California, governmental entities are subject to laws on public records and open meetings (see our Sunshine glossary).

But not all officials necessarily obey the laws, as the following six citizens have found in their quests for open government. They admit they are both revered and reviled in their communities - and absolutely undeterred.

Former mayor dubbed her 'Miss Brown Act'

Ourania Riddle, 62, Dixon

History: Has filed numerous complaints of open-meeting violations in Solano County and Dixon; drafted a proposed sunshine ordinance for Dixon.

Advice: "Be persistent and don't give up. ... Every time I make something happen, I get a rejuvenating feeling."

When a former mayor of Dixon nicknamed Ourania Riddle (pronounced you-RAY-nee-ah) "Miss Brown Act," it was not necessarily a compliment.

Don't tell her that. Riddle is proud of her prolific filing of complaints about open-meeting violations in Dixon, 23 miles west of Sacramento. "I had to live up to my name," says Riddle, an open-government activist for more than 20 years.

Since 1989, Riddle has become a fixture at public meetings, demanding accountability. She has been a stickler about enforcement of the Ralph M. Brown Act, which guarantees the public's right to attend and participate in meetings of local government bodies.

"I'm an involved citizen," she says. "I decided I was going to try to keep the foundation our forefathers gave us."

Born and raised in Athens, Greece, the cradle of democracy, Riddle emigrated at age 17 and took her U.S. citizenship oath seriously, she said.

Apparently, Solano County officials take her seriously, too. When the district attorney for 17 years - the person she had peppered with Brown Act complaints - retired last year, she was invited to his farewell party.

She plans to meet soon with the new DA and recently told his representative: "Look, I'm not going to go away, so you'd better know who I am and what I am doing."

She wages war on fees in public schools

Sally Arguilez Smith, 52, San Diego

History: Parent activist; uses the California Public Records Act to fight fees in public schools.

Advice: "Citizens have lost the knowledge that the government belongs to us. ... My advice is to spread the word to others and connect with open-government groups such as Californians Aware. Our interest makes better government!"

Sally Arguilez Smith is not a universally popular figure in the administrative offices of her daughter's San Diego high school, which all three of her children have attended. Last year, the principal threatened her in a letter with arrest, describing her behavior on campus with words like "obnoxious" and "belligerent."

Smith is on a mission to rid public schools of the practice of assessing fees to students for such programs as art, athletics, band, cheerleading and other extracurricular activities.

To that end, she has become a Public Records Act machine, teaching herself how to squeeze information out of recalcitrant school districts. And, she has filed complaints and appeared before school boards on behalf of other parents who fear retaliation, she said.

She believes her arrest letter was retaliatory for "my squawking about illegal school fees." The ordeal was "intimidating," she said, but she hasn't backed down.

Her position was bolstered by the settlement of a landmark lawsuit last year. The American Civil Liberties Union sued the state to force schools to stop charging such fees, since the California Constitution guarantees a free public education.

The San Diego grand jury also concluded that such fees were prohibited under California law, yet they remain rampant. The panel cited examples in San Diego high schools such as $1,833 for a cheerleading program, $400 for wrestling, $180 for water polo and $100 for a swimming program.

"So many families are just barely making it," said Smith. "And their children pay the price."

He recalls Berkeley's rebel roots

Dean Metzger, 73, Berkeley

History: Chairman of the Citizens' Sunshine Committee, which wrote a proposed sunshine ordinance for Berkeley.

Advice: "Be willing to do the research and reach out to other organizations ... to gain knowledge about what works and what does not work."

As Dean Metzger sees it, his city of Berkeley - birthplace of the free speech movement - is missing a key ingredient: a tough and meaningful sunshine ordinance to ensure government transparency.

So Metzger, a semi-retired mechanical engineer, studied ordinances across the country and helped draft a proposal that will go before Berkeley voters in November 2012.

As chairman of the Citizens' Sunshine Committee, Metzger said he and others grew exasperated by the stonewalling at City Hall to help draft an ordinance. "They did everything they possibly could to keep this from happening," he said.

So Metzger and others went directly to residents and gathered the necessary ballot signatures. Their proposal is considered one of the toughest in the nation by establishing an independent commission that would hear complaints about alleged open-government violations. At present aggrieved citizens must file a lawsuit to get relief.

Last month, the Berkeley City Council approved the first reading of an open-government ordinance, but Metzger said the plan doesn't go far enough. He is chagrined that neighboring cities, including Oakland and San Francisco, already have sunshine ordinances while Berkeley has lagged behind.

"Berkeley is not the great liberal capital of the world that everyone thinks it is," Metzger said.

He's fighting waste in Bell neighbor Brea

Glenn Vodhanel, 53, Brea

History: Organized Citizens Against Brea Waste; wrote a proposed sunshine ordinance for Brea.

Advice: "Stay the course. First, identify your allies. This is war."

Glenn Vodhanel is full of questions about how his Orange County city of Brea works - or doesn't work.

And he isn't shy about asking: Why did Brea keep using the same auditing firm as its scandal-ridden neighbor, the city of Bell? How come the city manager's personnel file is managed by the city manager himself? Just who among Brea city workers is in the "$100,000-plus club"?

Vodhanel, a businessman who provides services to government entities, still doesn't have all his answers, so he aims to keep prying. "Just because your city council says they're for transparency, don't take it at face value," he said.

Vodhanel and other residents took their frustrations to the people, gathering enough signatures to place a sunshine ordinance on the November 2012 ballot. Among its provisions, the Brea Open Governance Act would require the clerk to accept public records requests by phone and e-mail and to respond within two business days - compared with 10 days under the California Public Records Act.

The ordinance also would prohibit closed-door sessions about raises and bonuses for the city manager, and require a public explanation of any boost.

What irks Vodhanel most is how difficult it can be to obtain basic public information - especially in light of the Bell scandal.

"It's such a fight," he said sighing. "I could just get tired."

It's a hard sell in Shasta Lake

Gracious Palmer, 70, Shasta Lake

History: Former mayor of Shasta Lake; proposed a sunshine ordinance to City Council this month.

Advice: "Get involved. Stay involved."

Gracious Palmer has been on both sides of the gavel. As a 22-year resident of rural Shasta County, she has kept her nose in civic affairs. She went on to serve as a councilwoman and mayor of Shasta Lake, a town of about 10,000 north of Redding.

Through it all, she has remained a staunch supporter of open government.

Earlier this month, Palmer went before the City Council - after losing her seat in 2009 - and asked them to pass a sunshine ordinance.

"People need more information than less," she says simply.

Palmer said she is rankled that one of the new council members won't allow the city clerk to open mail that is addressed to the councilwoman at City Hall. Palmer is investigating the matter through Public Records Act requests. "It's not her mail; it's the people's mail," Palmer said.

Palmer traces her passion for government transparency to age 12, when Sen. Joseph McCarthy - a "maniac," she calls him - was forging his mark. After moving to Shasta County from the Bay Area in 1989, she sensed that the rural area "needed some sunshine." She became familiar with the Brown Act and worked to ensure that others understood their right to participate.

As for her sunshine proposal, she is not feeling optimistic after getting a tepid response from e-mail fliers and Facebook postings.

"The thing is, there is a lack of civic engagement," she said. "But this is not something I'm giving up on."

'The Editor' bares small cities' sins

Pedro Páramo (pseudonym), Huntington Park

History: Local government blogger in Southern California; created WatchOurCity.com.

Advice: "I have a voice and the wherewithal and the skills to put together a simple website - and the skulduggery to dig things up. It's the right thing to do."

When the man known only as "The Editor" on his muckraking website makes a rare public appearance, he pulls a Mexican wrestling mask over his face.

It is, perhaps, a bit cloak-and-daggerish. But the man who started WatchOurCity.com in Huntington Park aims to stay anonymous - and keep digging up dirt in Southern California.

He goes by the pen name Pedro Páramo, after the Mexican novel that inspired magical realist Gabriel Garcia Márquez, and was among the first to dredge up shocking details about officials in neighboring Bell and their absurd financial excesses.

The Editor says he is not a journalist. He did take a civics class, he said, and one day concluded: "Things are not right in Huntington Park." In fact, he sensed that things were "god-awful wrong" and taught himself to file Public Records Act requests.

The result? A website packed with the wheeling and dealing in these small cities, including a column labeled "Crook" for the dossiers of the newly convicted.

His work has not gone unnoticed. In 2004, he received a prestigious Beacon award from the California First Amendment Coalition. In bestowing the honor, the coalition at the University of California, Berkeley, Graduate School of Journalism observed that the small website managed to provide "easy access to public records ... and to point out the greedy foibles that happen when people with power are not watched."

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