as much information that is gained, not just from the text% it -- the text presented, because i went too many meetings and listened to questions. thank you. >> just a brief reference to the agency status question. you should know that supervisors newsom, sandobal, and daly did draft a peace with 14 sentences. it immediately operated ethics as an agency, independent from you all and the mayor and everyone else. i want to thank supervisor campos for talking about the two requirements that must predicate an amendment to the code. that is supermajority and

further. it does have to further the purposes of the act. an easy way to handle that is to require that findings be demonstrated for each amended -- amendment being proposed to the code. i think that would be a good examination for us, to be sure that there is a legal justification for proceeding. otherwise, you might find ourselves in court. this came up when bob stern came up with the mechanism. it was his intent that there be findings to show how the purposes of the acts are furthered. the main response to the arizona decision by the u.s. supreme court is very instructive. we immediately proposed a repeal, but they threw it to a public toin maine and came up with remedies, two of which they

forwarded to the legislature. we did not do that. our committee voted to repeal the act. thank you very much. >> first and foremost, i was the proponent for proposition f. i encountered a it rogue developer that spent $10 million. we, the people, spend $5,000. you need to think about this, referencing all the amendments that are made in this legislation. i would like to see an independent body. this ethics commission is not an independent body. therefore, item #6 and item number seven, and one of you means well. the other one does not mean

well. you are going to send it back to the ethics commission that is dealing with ross mirkarimi and all of those things. what focus will be given to the agenda items? that is my concern. supervisors, whether we like it or not, we need to have an independent body where people do not take instructions from outside. right now, we have very corrupt politicians. let me repeat, very, very corrupt politicians. and i come from a federal agency. i even worked for law enforcement. we know these people. and they influenced every level in this city and county of san francisco. some of you are influenced by a politician. he can make one call and you will just do as he says. some of you will not.

but some of you will. and so, supervisors, look at an independent agency to do the right thing. thank you very much. >> good afternoon. i want to speak to you as a journalist. particularly in the paragraph u, regarding internet advertisements. i think the language needs more precision in terms of who can and cannot pay. also, i think we need some assurances that journalists and others who write paid blogs for the likes of salon.com and politico.com, will not be considered in violation of paid advertisements. i have proposed some new

language for this. it is a bit longer, but a bit more precise. and it is not necessarily perfect, but i think it can be a starting point for revising the language of u language. it contains it"nothing in this section is intended to discourage the use of the and that four persons for whom such communications are a regular source of income." i plan to get with my union on this. you may be hearing from the union or not. i want to leave you with this thought. these amendments would appear to reduce transparency in the political process. each of you could be affected by that. each of you may at some point be frustrated by the reduction in transparency. do you want to assure yourself in the foot on that?

-- to shoot yourself in the foot on that? >> hello again. i just wanted to agree with supervisor campos and some other speakers. in light of the supreme court throwing out contribution limits from all kinds of wealth the entities, this is not the time to reduce transparency. it is not the time to reduce disclosure. also, i had an idea about the staffing of the ethics commission. supervisors have volunteers on their staff. i wondered if there was a way to get volunteers in there to help with some of the work. such as, perhaps, from six classes, if there are any left in high school. something like that. that is a suggestion. i have another suggestion. perhaps he might like to request

a comparison of san francisco and l.a. public financing systems with portland, ore., which did have full public financing until the supreme court threw out the fair fight funds part of it. however, i am not sure if -- how portland compares in size to san francisco. for some years, they have had actual voter-owned elections. you might want to look at that. a few years ago, the ethics commission or someone was going to look into public financing for san francisco. i never heard what happened with that. >> thank you. i neglected to give you three letters that i was asked to provide from people who could not be here today. one is from the vernal heights democratic club. one is from commissioner maufas

on the board of education. another one is from gabriel holland. supervisor wiener: are there any other members of the public who wish to speak in public comment? seeing none, can we close public comment? as i indicated at the beginning, i appreciate all the public comment today. i do not necessarily agree with every characterization that has been made today, but i am not going to go through point by point and express where i agree or disagree. we are going to send this back to the ethics commission for further discussion to make sure that we are furthering our shared goal of transparency and disclosure. while also doing what we can to improve the process to the extent possible. members of the committee, i

would request that the committee continue this with a request to the ethics commission to take up the matter for further deliberation. supervisor campos: thank you. i want to thank all of the members of the public who has come -- who have come out to speak on this item. i also want the bank, in advance, the ethics commission and their staff for taking these items into further consideration. i also want to take the opportunity to thank the city attorney's office. they do good work on these issues and their expertise is always greatly appreciated. i really believe that we have a real opportunity here, in san francisco, to make sure that we talk notwithstanding the context of what the supreme court has decided, that we become a model

for how a city can have the most transparent and accountable to read possible. i believe that all this in this room are committed to making that happen -- all of us in this room are committed to making that happen and i am excited about the possibility, i look forward to working with supervisor wiener in making sure we do get to that point. and i do not think that the intent is different. there are different perhaps ways of getting to that objective. i will make a motion to continue this item to the call of the chair and request respectfully the ethics commission consider these items. the one thing i would add to that for the ethics commission is i hope that it is not just one meeting or is a technical effort to provide outreach to do

a public hearing. it is a meaningful and robust process. the more people are engaged in these issues, the better it is. i know that to the extent that anyone of us whether it is in my office or supervisor wiener's office need to be part of that, to help with that. the last thing i will say is i want to take an opportunity to help landeta who is an intern in my office from the goldman public policy school and uc- berkeley who has done an amazing job in sort of jumping into these issues and understanding the implications of some of the proposals and grappling with the complexity of it. i make that motion to move this item to continue this item to the call of the chair. supervisor campos: thank you. we do have a motion to continue this to the call of the chair.

i want to thank supervisor wiener and supervisor avalos. i do appreciate we will be giving additional time to referring it to the ethics commission to give it greater community outreach and input. i want to acknowledge the concern about how we do outrage. -- outreach. it is hard to sometimes get folks and i completely get that. if we get a schedule of hearings, my office is happy to do outreach. the ethics commission does have elected funding and staffing to do that sort of average -- outrage -- outreach. i had four on my campaign who were attorneys and we would still make complaints -- mistakes.

we all want to comply with ethics laws. sometimes you have to pay for those services but i do agree with the rates and the spending cap. there is clearly some room for us to be able to make those expenditures. i do think that came from a good place. i do not think that came from my way to skirt our spending limitations but i look forward to continuing to work with both offices. there are a number of issues that were brought up by the members of the public and it was good to hear. the potential impact -- that might be made. supervisor wiener: thank you. i will reverse what i said about not disputing. i want to comment on the compliance cost issue. it will be moved because it is no longer necessary given the increased cap. there has been in recent days and to extend at this hearing. there are some good faith

disagreements. there has been a bit of hyperbole. one of them is about the compliance costs. of course, every campaign in the world would love to have that superstar volunteer treasurer who is so good at keeping books and reports and understand a lot including the many, many, many reports that are required to be followed -- file that will have full disclosure and do it in a way that will not give you in trouble and fined. everyone would love to have that person and i have been on a campaign tour you have some volunteer who is a retired accountant who knows what they're doing and is a phenomenal job. a lot of campaigns whether you are the wealthiest campaign in the world -- many do not have access to that person. you have a choice of having a

volunteer who may have a volunteer who may be there at some points but other -- not at other times, who may make a good-faith mistakes. or hiring someone. i do not like the cost of hiring. especially for a link the race. it is not cheap and it can accumulate. someone commented adding the 14 dozen dollars would have added to the cap would have somehow increased the cap. that would have increased under the old scheme to $157,000, compared that to the increase of $250,000 that the sport red -- enacted. the criticism of the cost provision we will move, that criticism was not warranted.

at least in the supervisor races. it did make sense under the lower cap. i want to make those comments because sometimes people assume you are trying to do something nefarious one that is not at all the case. thank you. supervisor kim: thank you. thank you to members of the public. this is a link the hearing so we appreciate you sticking around. supervisor campos: i have a concern about that specific provision but i do not think there was anything nefarious about the intent. supervisor kim said it was coming from that good place. i do not agree that there was ill intent in any of that. supervisor kim: wheat -- we do have a motion to continue this to the call of the chair and we can do that without opposition. thank you.

madam clerk, could you please call items a310? >> >> would you like to entertain a motion to move into closed session regarding a310 on existing litigation -- 8 through 10 on existing litigation? supervisor kim: is there any public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. we can do that without opposition. we're now convening in closed session. we ask members of >> we met in closed session to discuss what does -- litigation.

supervisor campos: we have made this motion to move it forward with recommendation. supervisor kim: we can do that without opposition. are there any other announcements? >> no. supervisor kim: meeting is adjourned.

it >> to route a career in public service that stretches three decades, ed lee has demonstrated his idealism and his pragmatism. he showed his confidence early, fresh out of law school. he helped deal with san francisco at first organized rent strike to protect the rights of some of the city for almost a vulnerable residents peeping -- . -- most of vulnerable residents. he used his position for the last 20 years, effectively, winning unanimous support for a budget designed to close a $380 million deficit, negotiating

pension reform that the voters approved last november, including such major employers as twitter. he is a strong education advocates and for programs that strengthen our communities and our schools. to keep the partnership and the sf promise, which joins the city and university in the unified school district to deliver more graduates of our local high schools to san francisco state. ed lee's story is an all- american 1. like many of today's graduates, he is a first generation american 1. he became san francisco's first asian-american mayor in january 2011. [applause] he had been appointed at that

time by the board of supervisors unanimously to serve out the remainder of mayor gavin newsome's term. ed lee exemplifies our commitment to improving our shared society. he is our mayor, are kind of mayor, and he likes to say "i was a progressive before progressives were a political faction in town." i am proud to present to you, the honorable edwin m. lee. [applause]

>> greetings. greetings to the members of the board of trustees, faculty and staff of san francisco state university, family and friends. good afternoon, class of 2012. [cheering] i am certain the in a san francisco state of mind today. nearly 800 graduates from 109 countries, right here, at the university of our great city of san francisco. and thank you again for that very kind introduction. u.s. and a wonderful partner for our city, -- you have been a wonderful partner for our city, actively shaping our education

policy for the 21st century new economy. you are a true capt. of change. week as leaders need to live by the values of social justice. these reforms in higher education have impacted generations of students across the world. congratulations on your well- deserved retirement and a big welcome for dr. leslie wong, the incoming president, who will have to fill big shoes. i want to say to the alumnus today, as you go around the west of the world with your values reject -- around the rest of the world with your values as a graduate of this university,

make sure people know san francisco is and always will be a sanctuary for the rest of the nation. [applause] and to your student commencement speaker, if i may say -- [speaking foreign language] congratulations. he didn't know i could speak russian, did you? i hope to see you start a new tech company right here in the indonesian capital of the world, san francisco. -- in the innovation capital of the world, san francisco. [applause] i am thankful every single day for the opportunity to serve san francisco. is a privilege to wake up each morning and go to city hall and

work for the people of this city to do everything i can to help you succeed in your lives. class of 2012, that is what today is about. succeeding and growing your lives, for yourselves, your families, and as mayor, i will state selfishly, your city, were ever you go from here. i just turned 60 a few days ago, and i was thinking, maybe we did a few things in celebration. we blaze new trails for social justice and pushed the rest of america to embrace people rights for all people -- women, african-americans, asian- americans, latinos, gays, lesbians, people with disabilities.

[cheering] we are a leader in protecting our environment, and we were the first city to adopt universal health care. [applause] and this university and this student body have been and always will be the vanguard of excellence. when i was not much older than you, i came to the bay area to join others to make the world a better place. we locked arms and stood in the doorways of the international hotel to protest the wrongful eviction of elderly filipino and chinese immigrants who had no money and no place to go. we sued the san francisco fire department to give women and people of color an equal chance to be a firefighter for public

safety. and we made a difference. today, i am proud that our state hired a woman to lead our fire department. i could never have imagined that in my lifetime the country would elect an african-american president, or that even the people of san francisco would have collected an asian-american mayor. [applause] but we screwed a few things up along the way. the economy, the environment, social justice. we are still working at. now you are graduating, class of 2012. the challenges of the world are your challenges. so, you're next assignment, your homework for the rest of your life -- i can do that because i'm mayor -- is to run the ball a little further down the field

and make this world a better place. i know some of your thinking "but, mayor, i have got to get a job. i have got to repay my student loans. i have to pay rent, paid for my mortgage. i have to care for my family." yes, you do. we are letting you out on to the world stage in an economy where to many people are looking for jobs. it is survival of the fittest, like something of "hunger games." but my message to you is you're in san francisco, you are not on your own. it is more like "the avengers." no, i do not have any special superpowers. what i mean is that, while it

may not always be evident, and he will have challenges as you leave this university and throughout your life, but always remember you are surrounded by a not so secret society of people who want to help you. they are people in business and government, law, the economy, sports, health care, education and the arts, in every field who have achieved a measure of success and wisdom in there lives. the greatest gift they can ever give is to pass on a little bit of that wisdom and a little bit of what they have learned to you and help you achieve to an even greater degree. don't get me wrong. it is up to you and you alone to decide what you are going to do with this opportunity and not waste it. don't be afraid to ask for help, whether it is your boss, your family,