Oakland Tribune

Panel debates ethics of Brown's action

Group says mayor excluded public from important decision

By Heather MacDonald, STAFF WRITER
Friday, March 19, 2004 -

OAKLAND -- The city's Public Ethics Commission debated into the night Thursday whether Mayor Jerry Brown violated the sunshine ordinance by introducing a last-minute proposal to change Oakland's risk management policy.

The complaint, filed by People United for a Better Oakland (PUEBLO), alleged Brown conspired with Police Chief Richard Word and other city officials to undercut public debate about the controversial policy at an Oct. 14 meeting of the Finance and Management Committee meeting.

PUEBLO also charged Councilmember Danny Wan (Grand Lake-Chinatown) with violating the city's sunshine ordinance, which requires the public to be notified of council and committee meeting agendas 10 days in advance.

Wan, who did not attend Thursday's hearing, acknowledged in a letter to the commission "the public would have been better served had the mayor's in formation been submitted in the printed agenda package" and vowed not to commit a similar violation in the future.

The commission unanimously adopted the settlement, which had been endorsed by PUEBLO. Commissioner Ralph Kanz abstained from the vote. By press time the commission had not determined whether Brown violated city law.

Through his lawyer Brown maintained he did nothing wrong at the Oct. 14 finance committee meeting when he lobbied against a proposal made by PUEBLO. The group sought to force the city's departments to bear the burden of lawsuits filed against the city by slashing their budgets.

Instead, Brown urged the committee to require police department commanders to hold face-to-face meetings with officers who are the subjects of complaints and allow internal affairs investigations to be reopened if new evidence emerges during a lawsuit or Citizens Police Review Board session.

Much of the commission meeting was taken up by PUEBLO's appeal of Chairman Jon Sylvester's refusal to subpoena Brown and Word. The commission rejected that appeal, and declined the watchdog group's request for a continuance.

" PUEBLO is trying to turn this forum into a debate over police policy in Oakland, which is not appropriate," Sylvester said. "It seems that (PUEBLO) wants part of the mayor's punishment to require him to submit to acrimonious questioning by PUEBLO."

Rashidah Grinage, who filed the complaint on behalf of PUEBLO, said the group was only attempting to hold Brown responsible for violating city law.

Ultimately, the council adopted a hybrid model incorporating Brown's proposal and allotting each department a certain amount of money each year to settle claims, based on a 5-year average of pay outs.

If the department goes over that budget, it would be forced to justify the additional claims before the City Council agrees to pay it from a citywide risk management reserve fund. But if the department reduces its liability and stays within its risk management budget, it could ask the City Council to allow the department to keep the money for additional programs or rewards, the council agreed.

E-mail Heather MacDonald at [email protected]