Faced with a covertly-assembled but taxpayer-financed dossier of alleged wrongdoing, city councilor Lena Tam has hired an aggressive and high powered attorney with a distinguished combat record. Former Marine, John Keker, Esq., has a target rich environment for a counter suit as well, following revelations that Acting City Manager Ann Marie Gallant hired outside counsel to put together a case against Tam and has turned it over to the local DA seeking her removal.
It would be bad enough that such a coup attempt was perpetrated by a staffer who is supposed to be working for ALL the city council rather than picking sides, or even creating them. But what’s more shocking is that the referral to the DA for potential prosecution and forced removal from office closely follows Tam’s query about Gallant’s contracting irregularities.
Seems Gallant overlooked local and qualified bond counsel and instead sent the lucrative six-figure business to an old boss of hers. He scratched her back. Now she’s scratching his. And this would have all been under the radar and letter-of-the-law legal except that there were two bond attorneys in the deal who were not divvying up the money evenly, so one of them was getting more than 75K, the magic number at which Gallant is supposed to first seek council approval.
So Tam has the good sense to air her concern about this perhaps minor league breach of the city’s procurement rules. But in seeming retaliation, out comes this file on Tam that Gallant has built and is now turning over to the DA. Wow.
Since Tam is not accused of illegal or questionable actions in her own interest, but merely of the same sort of minor technical violations our city manager herself seems to perpetrate, the timing and implications could not be more onerous.
Gallant and Tam have differed on questions about the Firefighters’ Union and SunCal’s proposals for Alameda Point. But it seems to me having files on your bosses is a lot like J. Edgar Hoover having the dirt on a Kennedy or Nixon.
Unfortunately for Keker and Tam, their effort at a press conference yesterday to air their side of the story went badly, as their timing ran up against the Mehserle manslaughter verdict, plus a lot of unhappy rioters venting over the tragic loss of Oscar Grant.
Her attorney said the case was ‘merit-less’ and called for quick review by the DA, rather than letting this circus further tarnish an otherwise dedicated volunteer elected official. He said our city’s appointed bureaucrats were making themselves “judge, jury and executioner,” and that was just Mr. Keker getting warmed up.
Keker’s going to need to watch his back too. I can imagine Gallant’s opening a file up on him even as I type – and that you and I will be paying the tab for it, whether we know it or not.
I for one don’t want my elected officials cowering before modern-day McCarthyism or Hoover style tactics. Time to start paying attention folks, and stop sitting on the sidelines.
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What the interim city manager is doing is completely irresponsible. Lena Tam has been all about openness in government, and I think the D.A. will see that Gallant's allegations against Tam are groundless. For Gallant to spend taxpayer dollars on her own personal vendetta and claim to be doing it for the benefit of Alamedans is just disgusting.
ReplyDeleteLocal bond counsel? Define local. SF firm, for years Alameda's bond counsel, JONES HALL HILL & WHITE, has essentially retired. Those left represent EB REGIONAL PARKS. Check out the vote on raising the amount of money that can be contracted out without going to bid and TAM's vote on it. If Lena TAM is so open about government, then why forward privileged attorney-client emails to her private email account? Why forward confidential emails to her about City business to SUNCAL's Pat Keliher?
ReplyDeleteDoubt if Keker will do anything personally. Certainly not going to be suing City officials whose personal rights to privacy TAM violated by forwarding emails about them to others.
You're right about one thing. Taxpayers are going to be paying for this debacle for years to come. Both for TAM's defense, prosecution, damages to employees and businesses she harmed, including SUNCAL.
IMHO, the Interim City Manager represents a far greater threat to the traditions and integrity of city government in Alameda than my friend and ally Lena Tam.
ReplyDeleteThe ICM has a clear record of disregard for public input (the "Civic Center Vision" was unveiled after ZERO public workshops or study sessions). She is unwilling to solicit bids from local businesses whenever possible (instead of hiring her cronies from lalaland who know nothing about Alameda). And she failed to disclose significant potential conflicts of interests (in the bind financing last month). Those are just three recent examples of a disconcerting pattern I have seen developing since last summer.
Sadly, I expect more of the ICM's misdeeds to come to light soon. And I hope our esteemed City Council will act appropriately when
necessary to start healing our city and repairing the damage done.
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteOkay, it was unwise to forward emails in this situation, but the interim city manager doesn't exactly show a sparkling example of ethical behavior. In fact, there's a pattern of unethical decisions made by Gallant, who has been all about no transparency -- the same can't be said about Tam. It looks to me like Gallant wants to silence Tam so Gallant's many closed-door City Council meetings and city contract giveaways can continue.