Well, this is a mighty strange turn of events.
Stockton Mayor Anthony Silva—you know, the one who was just arrested for allegedly videotaping stripping teens—says it’s his disapproving city council members who have actually broken the law, and now he wants the D.A. to investigate.
Silva sent a letter to District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar Friday, complaining of what he believes to be “a substantial violation of a central provision of the Ralph M. Brown Act” by the city’s elected leaders.
Silva’s taking issue with a recent press conference, which we reported on here. It was attended by all members of the Council except Silva, but was not placed on the public agenda beforehand. The mayor said that constitutes a violation of the state’s open meetings law. Vice Mayor Christina Fugazi, who attended but stood off to the side, has also expressed reservations over its legality.
City Attorney John Luebberke thinks it’s much ado about nothing. Jim Ewart, attorney with the California Newspaper Publishers Association, agreed.
“This press conference was one in which the members of the council sought to assure citizens and residents that the council was still functioning. Maybe there was some political grandstanding involved — I’ll leave that to others to decide — but even if that’s the case that does not run afoul of the Brown Act,” Ewart said.
Not so fast, says Silva. There’s even more. The Stockton Record reports that he is awaiting a “letter of findings” from the District Attorney on possible Brown Act violations from 2015. Oddly enough, he would have been a guilty party to these.
Silva has just 12 weeks to go before he’s up for reelection, so this ought to be interesting.
Read more about Silva’s Brown Act complaints here.
Image Credit: Flickr User lachlanhardy, https://flic.kr/p/5Dahzo via (CC BY 2.0)