Reporters trying to make sense of the public pension debate have been stymied in Sacramento County. Pension officials here have steadfastly refused to say exactly who gets how much.

So The Sacramento Bee, the paper I work for, sued and won, twice so far.

Still, county retirement officials refused to turn over the data. They wanted the court to clarify its orders. They were prepared to produce names and gross pension payouts, but didn't  think they were required to tell the public what departments retirees retired from, or what positions they held or how many years they worked, and, oh yes, when they retired.

That's crucial data. If the name is common, John Smith for example, without a department, it would be impossible to know which John Smith retiree is tied to which pension amount. It would also be impossible to compare benefits between departments, or between rank-and-file and management or to spot evidence of spiking.

The state's two largest pension systems, CalPERS and CalSTRS, already release this data routinely, and they didn't have to be sued to do so, So do other counties.

Now the court has said, again, that Sacramento has to, too. So stop wasting money and time. This is public information. Give it up.

Ginger Rutland writes for The Sacramento Bee opinion pages.