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.