My faith has been restored in the Alameda justice system and City Councilmembers. The Alameda DA has exonerated Lena Tam, and the Alameda City Council voted unanimously in opposition to a costly civil suit against Lena Tam.
This whole issue was political smoke and mirrors, and to be quite honest, makes me furious to know it cost Alameda over $100,000. Fortunately our city judicial and legislative leaders were able to stick to the facts and see through the political tricks.
Unfortunately Tam was chosen as the bull’s-eye for the ICM’s target practice. Her name was dragged through the mud, leaving the general public to ask the question, “Did Lena Tam commit the crime?” This is unfortunate because they should be asking the question “Who accused Tam of these crimes and why?” The answers are much more interesting for the latter question.
It is no coincidence that Ann Marie Gallant, Alameda Interim City Manager chose Tam as the scapegoat. She is the City Councilmember who is and was questioning the corrupt system, and trying to get some structures in place that will clean up City Hall, such as the Sunshine Task Force. She openly questions Gallant at City Council meetings and was one of the two votes against hiring Ann Marie as City Manager.
A quick peek into Gallant’s past shows us that this is not the first time Gallant has tried to kick out someone who doesn’t agree with her, then hastily resign, as she did in Desert Hot Springs:
http://www.pe.com/localnews/desert/stories/PE_News_Local_D_dgallant11.4025e27.html
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Do you follow the lead of the CADC and not allow free speech here either, Jeff?
ReplyDeleteIt's amusing seeing all the corrupt people pretending to be aghast when one of their own gets caught red-handed.
ReplyDeleteHi Adam. This is a free and open forum and I encourage your comments.
ReplyDeleteI'll let the DA's decision and city council vote on Tam speak for itself.
Again, one of my comments saying anything critical of Lena Tam was removed from your site. That seems to be contradictory to your statement of it being a free and open forum where you encourage my comments, Jeff.
ReplyDeleteVery disappointing, indeed.
Its unclear how the post was deleted, luckily posts are saved. See below:
ReplyDeleteThe simple fact was stated clearly by Alameda's Mayor Beverly Johnson:
“Councilmember Tam has not denied doing what the report said that she did. And that included releasing confidential information to parties, including SunCal, which the city was negotiating with.”
Is that the kind of person Alameda wants representing us in our City Council? Someone who says with one side of her mouth that she is in favor of transparency and Sunshine in City government, while sharing secrets out the other side of her mouth with bloggers, developers and unions? Or do we want the kind of leadership that respects the Citizens enough not to make “mistakes” like this?
Do we want a City Councilmember who hires a Fire Chief without fully vetting his past nor getting his entire contract written down? Or a City Councilmember who hires City Staff and then complains the Staff is on a vendetta when the Councilmember is exposed for wrong-doing? Or even more simply, do we want a City Councilmember who is unwavering in support of SunCal’s vision for Alameda Point when our citizens voted 85% to reject it at the polls?
DA action or not, lawsuit or not, it remains up to the citizens to vote for two people who will represent their best interests on City Council this November. You can find out more about my campaign at AdamforAlameda.com, and why you may want to choose to use one of your votes for me.
Posted by Adam Gillitt to East Bay for Open Government at 9/13/2010
Your attempt at the history of Ann Marie Gallant's performance in Desert Hot Springs is very mistaken. She was well liked in this city. After years of this city getting run over by developers and giving away favors to them that cost the city millions of dollars, she started to right the ship. At a time when city spending was out of control, she applied the brakes. I was very much involved in the entire process, intensely involved. I assure you that your reporting of the job she did in Desert Hot Springs and your portrayal of her could not be further from the truth. The full page ads that SunCal is running in the Palm Springs area looking for dirt on Ann Marie is going to backfire.
ReplyDelete