h. brown
Photos by Luke Thomas
By h. brown
October 28, 2008
The star witness refused to lie under oath. The chief prosecutor called the defendant a “liar” and said that he’d “intimidated witnesses.” This is a prosecutor (Richard Mo) who is not even a lawyer. And, he made those comments before he’d even interviewed the accused (Tony Hall).
When I asked Ethics Commission Executive Director John St. Croix why his prosecutor isn’t a lawyer, he said that the job description only required that they be a law school graduate. Hmmm. I’m betting the ‘real’ director of the commission (that would be Mabel Ng) got little Dick Mo his gig.
Chief Enforcement Officer Richard Mo
The Commission Chair, Susan Harriman, changed the rules as she went along. It was like People’s Court meets Saturday Night Live. I kept expecting for the door to open and for a gorilla riding an elephant to stroll through. But, oh no, it was just Luke Thomas riding a digital camera with a 3 foot stack of lenses. And, here came Wilma Pang who’d just been gored by St. Croix a couple of days earlier.
Ethics Commission Chairperson Susan Harriman
I asked St. Croix if he felt bad about the elderly Chinese woman who died from stress when the circle of family members accused of improper political contributions tightened around her. St. Croix said that his people never talked to the woman but didn’t deny she was on their list and that they’d interrogated her family. Why, oh why, would they do something like this? They went after one woman for a $25 contribution that, like all the others, turned out to be valid. It was almost as though the Ethics Commission wasn’t really after Tony Hall’s money and reputation, or the lives of Wilma Pang’s elderly friends, but that the Ethics Commission was being directed and used as a political cudgel by the Mayor’s Office against enemies real and perceived.
Of course that’s the case and everyone knows it. The case against Hall may have fallen in shambles around them, but Gavin’s people won the war big time. That’s cause Sean Elsbernd is still the D-7 supervisor (this could change if he’s implicated in conspiring to alter the evidence in the ‘altered checkgate’ scandal). Think Nixon; newly re-elected and forced to resign. Think Ed Jew; newly victorious but only by committing felonies. It could happen to Sean Elsbernd. Of course, I hope not.
But, Olivia Scanlon (whose check to Hall was altered) looked a mess and Elsbernd is advertising for a new legislative assistant, says SFUsualsuspects.com. Is it her job? Why is it always the little people who suffer? Hall’s out cash and has had his political ascent slowed, but I think this will actually end up helping him. He’s resilient and the broad base of people who came to his defense testifies to the man’s character. From the ‘ad man,’ Bob Pritikin to Doug Comstock’s quality West of Twin Peaks Observer, to yours truly, and Frank Gallagher who clocked 7,000 or so miles from his new home in Maine to testify at the hearing.
I worked the audience during breaks fishing for outbreaks from the likes of Mabel Ng (who said cryptically when asked if she was Mabel Ng: “Some days.”) … she’s actually a tool for Jim Sutton and the Mayor’s Office. I stopped to ask Jim Ross (I couldn’t decide which side he was on and by his testimony, neither could he) … anyway, I stopped to ask him if he could make me into a Republican cause he’s good at making faux-Democrats. He wouldn’t answer.
Political consultant Jim Ross
I did my couple of minutes of Public Comment and noted that the Commission was a great example of a great idea that had become its own doppelganger. I noted Chair Harriman’s close professional relationship to Jim Sutton and the fact that the commission refuses to investigate the Mayor or his cohorts but goes after Matt Gonzalez and Carolyn Knee and Tony and Wilma Pang and Chicken John.
Editor’s Note: Brown blasts the ethics commission during public comment:
I noted that while the commission was a good idea, when 3 of the 5 appointing authorities are part of the Downtown Cabal, that’s who their decisions will always favor. They ignore complaints validated in the Sunshine Task Force if they involve the Mayor and his organization. From Downtown Chairperson, Harriman, to figurehead director, St. Croix, to not-really a-lawyer-but-I-play-one-at-work, Richard Mo, they are evil incarnate. And, all run by Jim Sutton through his puppet, Mabel Ng.
It was pitiful.
Harriman wouldn’t allow the defense to ask about the source of “anonymous complaints” filed against Hall some 3 years back (cause, no doubt, they came from the Mayor’s Office through Sutton) … complaints that kicked off the investigation. Harriman said that she thought that having charges like these dangling over your head for 3 years was just fine and didn’t violate Hall’s right to due process and a speedy trial. She repeatedly struck down any reference to why Hall left Treasure Island which eventually had both sides in the audience laughing. She finally asked the audience to “show some respect to this body.” That really got me and the Irish contractors on the back rows laughing since she’s been disrespecting Hall for 3 years.
Frank Gallagher (damn, it was good to see him back in town, if only for a couple of days) shone on the stand. He noted that his 89 Volvo was the only ‘campaign car’ and considering they drove from here to L.A. once, and and were constantly on the move in the City, that the $1,100 they spent on gas wasn’t unreasonable though the Mayor’s people challenged it.
Frank Gallagher
In fact, after the disgraced Scanlon refused to perjure herself and the gas use was verified, the only thing left was when Hall used the wrong credit card to buy some purses for his daughters and that was only $320.
I noted that if they ‘convicted’ him of that (his lawyer, Peter Bagatelos had already offered to pay a fine and been refused by faux-attorney, Richard Mo) … in the end, if they applied the same standard used to fine Harriman running mate, Jim Sutton, that Hall would have to pay a fine of 1/3000th of the Sutton fine of $23k on his $9 million transgression on behalf of the Mayor (covered up by Mabel Ng who, not so remarkably, still holds her job). So, Hall could end up paying a fine of under 9 dollars.
Uh huh, you do the math. Three years of his life and God knows how many hours the administration spent persecuting this guy and they’re likely to come out with under ten bucks to show for it?
Wrong. As I noted when I began this piece, they held onto the D-7 supe seat and that’s worth many many millions of dollars. They removed Hall as a challenger in last year’s mayoral race. On the case of Wilma Pang, they’ve strengthened mayoral favorite son Joe Alioto Jr.’s hand in the D-3 case. They poured in investigator hours to challenge elderly Chinese contributors and one died from stress. Does that seem right? Well, Pang says that Alioto and the Mayor are very active in Chinatown now.
Let’s see if they get by with it. I favor Tony Gantner in that race by the way, and I’ve debated them all.
In Other news
As other publications are telling you, the last week of a campaign is the time when all the slimy rumors come out and I want to jump on the bandwagon here. I won’t get specific cause it’s gross, but a story is making the rounds in D-11.
There’s also a rumor that Pat Murphy has shaved his head, left San Francisco, and joined the Israeli army.
Share your dirt.
Editor’s Note: Views expressed by columnists published on FogCityJournal.com are not necessarily the views or beliefs of Fog City Journal. Fog City Journal supports free speech in all its varied forms and provides a forum for a complete spectrum of viewpoints.
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