Peter Scheer, executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition, makes the following point in a commentary: A bill moving through the California legislature that would cut off public access to financial records in divorce cases could easily be tweaked to remove the appearance of a political payoff to campaign funder Ron Burkle. So why don’t the bill’s backers make the change? Burkle, who is fighting to keep financial records in his divorce secret, is the billionaire who is helping the Newspaper Guild in its bid for the Mercury News, Contra Costa Times and 10 other Knight Ridder newspapers up for sale.