Monday, April 12, 2010

Riggy Now In The Clear? Make Up Your Mind!


VOICE OF OC NOW SAYS RIGGY MAY BE IN THE CLEAR
In a follow-up report - two hours after his first report - Voice of OC Editor-in-Chief Norberto Santana, Jr., just posted an entry titled, "Righeimer Is in the Clear, at Least Legally", HERE, in which he tells us that Planning Commission Chairman and GOP political operative Jim Righeimer didn't break any laws when he inadvertently leaked information to a reporter (see previous post) because the meeting itself was "likely illegal". So, even though Righeimer didn't know the meeting he referred to was illegal and probably thought he was violating the law, he's in the clear because it may have been. Well, I feel a lot better now!

WAS THE MEETING ILLEGAL OR NOT?
So, that leaves us with a larger issue - was the meeting illegal or not? If so, were the four members of the City Council and the senior staff who attended (Eric Bever was absent) themselves violators of the Brown Act? Former Mayor Sandra Genis stood before the council and postulated that the meeting was illegal - at least the part that discussed the formation and staffing of a special committee to assist the city in preparing a proposal for the Orange County Fair and Events Center. Santana's consultant appears to agree with her.

WHO'S GOING TO TELL US?
Who is going to clear this issue up for us? The logical person, of course, would be contract City Attorney Kimberly Hall Barlow. I wonder if we'll be hearing from her, or City Manager Allan Roeder, about this issue anytime soon.


POLITICAL QUICKSAND

If they feel the meeting was legal, then Riggy is the law violator. If it wasn't, then they all violated the law. And what about Riggy, who apparently thought he was violating the law but did it anyhow? What a mess! It's like standing in quicksand... the more you wiggle the deeper you go.

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5 Comments:

Anonymous Kent Morrow said...

Great job of reporting. If there was an accolade for reporting on the Brown Act, like the Pulitzer, you would win the Brown Award. That's why you're relevant.

4/12/2010 11:20:00 AM  
Blogger The Pot Stirrer said...

Kent, I've heard my contributions referred to in a "Brown" context before, but not the Brown Act. :-) Thanks for reading, your kind words and for your participation... you've been missed.

4/12/2010 12:41:00 PM  
Blogger Flo Martin said...

Ayep, the "Brown" stuff is certainly hitting the fan!

Thank you, Geoff, for all your tireless work on behalf of Costa Mesans!

4/13/2010 09:45:00 AM  
Blogger The Pot Stirrer said...

Flo, thanks for the kind words... we do what we can...

4/13/2010 10:04:00 AM  
Anonymous Not a fan of riggy the carpet bagger said...

Hey hey, ho ho, this riggy guy has gotta to go. Hey hey, ho ho, this riggy guy has got to go. (This is best done singing)

4/13/2010 04:59:00 PM  

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