Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

I will be a guest and part of a panel on the matter of Deborah Edgerly, Mayor Dellums, and the "state" of The City of Oakland, Thursday Morning June 25th on KQED's "Forum," 88.5 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area. It's a call-in show. I don't -- yet -- know who the other panelists will be.

According to various friends and news sources, Oakland City Administrator Deborah Edgerly will retire July 31st 2008 . But from what I here, the embattled CAO's (Chief Administrative Officer) situation is such that it's Civil War (in capital letters) and foks have chosen sides. I personally stand by this view: that Miss E's phone call to help out her nephew set in motion a perfect storm of events and a clash between the following "agenda groups" 1) Professional / executive class African American female City of Oakland Employees This group is paced by the CAO, and is a loosely formed set of tight relationships, that one friend once described as "The Black Female Mafia.) 2) City of Oakland Employees who are not part of group one and specifically don't like the CAO. This includes people in the Oakland Police Department, but also other City of Oakland departments and personnel who I can't mention. This includes African Americans, male and female. It

I just saw the SFGate online article about Oakland City Admininstrator Deborah Edgerly and it has the headline, "Paid to do nothing". That's an insult and a smear, especially since the same article explains that Edgerly ran a meeting because Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums was late to attend it. The Chronicle's Chris Heredia wrote: On Friday, Dellums asked all city department heads to report directly to him until further notice. Edgerly, however, ran the first half of a weekly meeting of city department heads on Monday when Dellums was running late. So that means she's not paid to do nothing -- she's doing something . But most SFGate readers will just see that stupid headline and then make dumb comments in the comments section. Then they will communicate that to others and the public will have the wrong view of Miss E. Look, I don't think the SF Chronicle should do that. It's not right and it's certainly a smear of the first order.

Sf Chroncle's scribe and my cantankerous friend Chip Johnson wrote an article that saw the light of day , and then was forgotten -- until now. It involves Larae Brown, who was a Controller with the City of Oakland and according to Johnson, doing her job, which was finding flaws in bookkeeping. Seems she found a huge one: Chip Johnson reports: The trouble began in 2006 when Brown completed a reconciliation of more than 100 city bank accounts, a task she alleges had not been performed since 1999 - and what she found was extremely troubling. In her review, she discovered the city's cash balance was overstated by $172 million and 77 of 111 city accounts showed negative fund balances. By her estimates, all that was left in city coffers were bond funds, whose use is restricted by state law. When she raised concerns with her superiors, the suit claims, she was told that City Administrator Deborah Edgerly had devised a 10-year repayment plan to cover a half-dozen negative fund balan

What I find so "funny" -- and by that I mean strange -- about the entire rush to oust Oakland City Administrator Deborah Edgerly , is that she not only does have the City Charter-endowed right to impact what City staff -- including the police department -- but she'e being scapegoated for an action that certain City Council members have been known for: calling city staff to have them act on something. The difference is that Miss E can do that, but City Councilmembers can't do that. But it happens on a regular basis. I think this is a real flaw in the City Charter in that Councilmembers should be able to have some sway over what is done by City Staff, but only to a certain extent. But the fact is that at least one Councilmember was known to call city staffers and push through contracts for relatives. That's a fact. The East Bay Express , and some other bloggers just don't know Oakland at all.

Ok. Here's another reason why Mayor Ron Dellums and other Oakland Officials should think twice before firing or forcing out Oakland City Administrator Deborah Edgerly regarding her alledged interference with a police investigation is this: she's protected by the Oakland City Charter and such an action is blocked and considered a crime itself -- Section 1208. Violation. The violation of any provision of the Charter shall be deemed a misdemeanor and be punishable upon conviction in the manner provided by State Law, unless otherwise expressly provided for in this Charter. (Amended by: Stats. November 1988 and Stats. November 2000.) One thing I learned from working for Mayor Elihu Harris was to ask what the Oakland City Charter says. So I did. This is the section of the Charter that governs "Miss E": ARTICLE V THE CITY MANAGER Section 500. Appointment. The Mayor shall appoint a City Administrator, subject to the confirmation by the City Council, who shall be the c

UPDATE: Deborah Edgerly Protected By Oakland City Charter UPDATE: Chip Johnson's Right About Favoritism in Oakland UPDATE: Delums Fires Edgerly UPDATE: Rumor: Oakland Police Wiretapped Deborah Edgerly UPDATE: John Russo and Courtney Ruby present reform package There's a bit too much desire to throw Oakland City Administrator Deborah Edgerly under the bus regarding her alledged interference with a police investigation of an Oakland Gang. Knowing "Miss E" as I have since 1993, I'm going to come to her defense. In 15 years I'm never known Miss E to do anything but play by the book. Sometimes that's frustrated my efforts, particularly when I worked to bring the 2005 Super Bowl to Oakland, but even in my worst moments during that time between 1999 and 2001, I understood her position. But I've always respected and regarded her as a custodian of the City's budget and procedures. So this new story sound like just that -- I don't believe for