referred to by william shakespeare's plays and poems. located near the academy of sciences, shakespeare's garden was designed in 1928 by the california spring and wild flower association. here is a truly enchanting and tranquil little garden tucked behind the path of a charming rot iron gate with romantic magic. the overarching cherry trees, the gorgeous big walkway and brick wall, the benches, the rustic sun dial. the pack picnic, lovely bench, enjoy the sunshine and soft breeze and let the

>> good afternoon. welcome to our regular rules committee meeting for thursday, may 16th, 2013. i am supervisor norman yee and i will be chairing the meeting. to my right is supervisor london breed and shortly supervisor malia cohen will be joining us. the clerk today is linda wong. the committee would also like to acknowledge the staff of s.f.g. tv, jennifer low and jesse larsen who record each of our meetings and make the transcript available to the public online. and i apologize for starting late. i was in another committee meeting earlier and just got out of that a few minutes ago. so, madam clerk, are there any announcements?

>> yes, mr. chair. please make sure to silence all cell phones and electronic devices. completed speaker cards and copies of any documents to be included as part of the file should be submitted to the clerk. items acted upon today will appear on june 4 supervisor's agenda unless otherwise stated. >> okay. can you please call item number 1? >> item number 1, hearing to consider appointing two members, terms ending november 19, 2014, to the bicycle advisory committee. there are two seats and two applicants. >> okay, thank you. we will be hearing from the candidates in the order they appear on the agenda. is kevin dole here? please approach the microphone, and you can use a few minutes to talk about yourself and why you're applying. thank you very much. i am kevin dole. i live in district 1.

i have talked with supervisor mar on a couple occasions about serving on the bicycle supervisory committee. i think the injunction against the mta bike plan has been removed and the projects are starting to roll out, i think it is very important to have a fully activated bicycle advisory committee to provide the voice of san franciscans to the board of supervisors. ~ on these important issues currently. the committee has sometimes trouble meeting quorum and i hope to serve on the seat and serve quorum very well. >> thank you. any questions? no questions, thank you. thank you. >> bert hill is the next person, but he's not here today. he informed me he is on a three-week, of all things, a bicycle trip. [laughter] >> in the northern california region. were possible, i'

he would pedal all the way over here just so he could speak on his qualifications. [laughter] >> i could vouch for bert as a solid and dedicated member of the bicycle advisory committee and advocate for improve education about bicycling as an everyday means of transportation. bert is the current chair of the committee and i look forward to watching him serve another term in his capacity. i have submitted his name for reappointment and ask my colleagues for your support on the appointment of bert hill to the bicycle advisory committee. okay. so, at this moment, if there are any public comments on this item, please come on up. you have two minutes to speak

and indicate who you are supporting in appointment. hi, yes, i'm [speaker not understood] i serve on the pedestrian advisory committee as child advocate. i am here to advocate for bert hill. i met him through a variety of e-mails that we sent to one another because i knew he was on the bicycle advisory committee. i was advocating for the bicycle ambassador program. he was totally open to this. he teaches bicycle safety at the bicycle coalition. you won't find a better person to serve on the committee. and i know you're going to reappoint him, but i just wanted to speak for him since he can't be here. so, thank you very much for listening. >> thank you. good afternoon, supervisors. andy thorn way. i'm here to speak up in support of both of these nominees. i have known bert hill for a very long time. i am fortunate and privileged

to have been the chair of the bicycle advisory committee myself, so, i know what a tough job it is and i'm very pleased to have bert continue in that role in representing district 7. and i hope that he will continue to be chair and influence that committee. others have already said, bert is a great educator and has educated thousands of people in better, safer, more responsible, and more fun cycling. don't leave out the fun. he's a very astute, caring, and humane teacher, but he's also a really great example. so, i hope you'll return bert to that position. mr. dole standing port position of d-1 representative also, i'm a district 1 resident and represent district 1 on the bac. [speaker not understood] know what that means. i'm very please today recommend mr. dole for this position. i think he's got the aptitude, intellect and energy to do the job that needs to be done. as he said, the city has

emerged from that crazy four-year injunction. we've completed three quarters of the bike plans. the question is what next as we've eaten through that bike plan, how do we continue to make bicycling more excellent and inviting for everybody. not just for cyclists. we're doing okay with cyclists. what we need to do is invite more people to get on bikes and make it safe and pleasant. again, i recommend both of these candidates and i hope you'll give them your fullest regard. thank you. >> thank you. i just want to put in a word of support for bert hill. in orienting myself to the bicycle advisory committee, he's been very helpful. and from the meetings i've attended he really knows his stuff and i can make the rest to the comments that have already been submitted. >> thank you. good afternoon, rules committee. ♪ [speaker not understood] spinning bike wheels

spinning round drop all your item by the rule committee side and you're going to have a bike ride you're going to make it right and show us the city appointment colors that are real ooh ♪ hi, supervisors. good afternoon. thank you very much. my name is peter lauder born, i am here to speak on behalf of supervisor mar who is very pleased to nominate mr. kevin dole to this position. what's so great about him, one thing i'll add is he commutes daily from the richmond district all the way out to district 10 and one of -- which is a pretty hefty community. he's spoken so well about an understanding of the city-wide how the bike network

really works together. with the richmond, particularly inner richmond bike communities in the city, we're glad to have him helping out and stepping forward. we appreciate your support. thank you. good afternoon, supervisors. my name is ty rob. the reason i'm here is for support of bert hill. bert hill and myself through the pedestrian safety programs i've been in and also with psac, work many years working on joint issues between bicycles and pedestrians, and he's very, very good at this. he can bring people together on both sides of the issue. so, i highly recommend him and also his educational program. ~ he's been doing for years. thank you. >> thank you. any other public comment? seeing none, public comment is now closed. [gavel]

>> colleagues, are there any thoughts? supervisor cohen? can we have a motion to move the nomination of ken dole for seat 1 and bert hill for seat 7 of the bicycle advisory committee to the full board without objection? >> so moved. >> okay. motion passes. [gavel] >> thank you very much. can you please call item number 2? >> item number 2, hearing to consider appointing one member, term ending february 1, 2017, to the ethics commission. there is one seat and two applicants. >> okay. we will be hearing from the candidates in the order they appear on the agenda. if brett andrews is here, please approach the microphone. good afternoon, supervisors. thank you for the opportunity to present my candidacy before you.

as you know, the ethics commission plays an essential role in practicing and promoting high standards of ethical behavior and if given the opportunity i would approach this imposing work with the same level of integrity, professionalism, and interest as my nonprofit work. for the past 10 years i have had the pleasure of serving as the executive director of positive resource center, a 26-year-old san francisco-based organization that provides benefits counseling and employment services to over 2,500 clients a year. the agency is primarily governed and staffed by vocational professionals and attorneys. five of our board members are attorneys including the president, vice president, and secretary and with a staff of 29 there are 11 attorneys. given my ten years of supervising attorneys and being supervised by attorneys, i have developed a strong working knowledge and understanding of the importance of elevating accountability, transparency, integrity, and ethical behavior, particularly in light

of our consequential work in the legal realm and in vocational services. building on my professional experience as far back as i can know and remember, i've held some office, participated in some way in community involvement and civic involvement. i am currently a member of a few community organizations that promote the support of vulnerable san franciscans, all with the goal of raising awareness and resources, and most recently i served on the alice b. tucker democratic club for five years where i gained a deep knowledge of the san francisco government structure and the political process. i am a proud african-american gay man that is grateful for the educational and professional opportunities that have been afforded me, at the same time i am keenly aware that those opportunities for advancement often without government have historically been not available for everyone. if appointed, my priorities would be to work with the commission and staff on continued development of educational programs, making them available for all san

franciscans and my second priority would be to work with the commission on strengthening and increasing the commission's enforcement, authority, and other efforts. while the commission must maintain an impartial stance on issues that are brought before them and work hard to avoid conflicts, it also must seek to possess broad knowledge and an understanding of the issue matter to minimize decisions that may have an unwanted and unintended consequence. i feel my professional experience, my life experience, and my pursued interest contribute to broadening that knowledge base. i have attended many ethics commission meetings and have seen them in action and recognize that sometimes there is agreement, spirited debate, and at times we will just have to agree to disagree. that is just the nature and the scope of the commission's important work. work that i respect and would look forward to undertaking. lastly, i had an opportunity to attend the april meeting where the ethics commission met and commissioner lu announced her resignation. and i was impressed with the

parting comments by other commissioners who shared their sentiments such as well respected, well prepared, insightful, fair minded, professional, and present. if appointed, i would make that same commitment to building on commissioner lu's legacy and with that i respectfully ask for the affirmative vote of the committee for my candidacy to the full board. >> thank you. i have a few questions. sure. >> a very specific restriction at the ethics commission is that you cannot engage in any local political activity. i want to make sure you understand this and what you're comfortable with proceeding with your application. i am comfortable. >> the ethics commission -- commissioners have the job of vetting complex and detailed analysis on campaign finance, regulations, and issues related to compliance reporting and disclosure laws.

can you tell the committee what experience you may have had that speaks to your ability to take on this responsibility? well, i have been an executive director for 20 years. in this most recent organization i've been with for the last 10 years, we deal with significant government contracts that have many objectives, that have significant consequence and process to them. also supervising attorneys and having an understanding that the legal community often has to engage with the nonprofit community, with government, and recognizing that those -- their duty of confidentiality, their duty of ethics, their duty of loyalty to their clients, and to their issue often can interfere with the work that is being done in a broader sense of the community. i've had 10 years of that experience, of navigating through those challenging issues. sometimes they are parallel and other times they do run contrary to each other and it is important to have

productive, constructive, full conversation, leaving space for everyone to share their view, but at the end of the day it is important to address the particular issue that is ahead of you and in front of you, knowing that you may not always get exactly what you're looking for. >> thank you. are there any other questions? okay, thank you very much. thank you. next person is hulda garfolo. good afternoon, supervisors. my name is hulda garfolo and i am also a candidate for the vacant seat on the ethics commission. in 2010-2011 i chaired the civil grand jury committee that

published a report, the sleeping watchdog, which was a focus on the san francisco ethics commission. our grand jury's thorough investigation revealed the 1993 proposition k established an agency which failed in its mandated mission. it is not taking care of the citizens as far as regulating transparency. the commission, in fact, was created for san franciscans that are losing -- that were losing faith in their government. my committee's grand jury report raised important issues surrounding the ethics commission that were not being addressed elsewhere. issues such as refusal to televise those commission meetings which we strongly recommended, and today are being televised. the failure to enforce violations of the sunshine ordinance, and they still are

not doing -- meeting that mandated mission. the failure to investigate complaints of whistle blower retaliation, there are a number of other issues that today's ethics commission is not taking care of. steps must be taken to develop a schedule for setting fines in order to assure the public that favoritism is not being shown to any one individual. i am aware that supervisor dado and dennis herrera have proposed lobbying reform and i strongly support that because that is something we clearly need. ~ chiu our ethics commission must create a bridge with the sunshine ordinance task force. it also needs to take care of lobbying concerns. there aren't enough -- there isn't enough transparency, and that is something that the ethics commission really needs to begin focusing on.

citizens are entitled to know who is paying to influence city hall. they are entitled to know who the lobbyists are, and why they are seeking influence with special interests. the ethics commission must make it a priority not only to generate reports, but provide them in a complete and timely fashion for the public's benefit. full public disclosure requires notification of lobbying efforts at the time decisions are made, not months later, or even years later in some instances. at the present i am serving on the 2010-2013 civil grand jury after being requested by the superior court to serve another term. my term will end on june 30th. i have no affiliation with any special interest groups or any political groups.

i am a supervisor during -- inspector during elections and have worked at various precincts. so, i am very engaged in several community activities and would appreciate the support of the supervisors to be the individual that would replace dorothy lu as commissioner on the ethics commission. >> okay, thank you. any questions? supervisor breed. >> hi, thank you so much. i just wanted to know, besides your work on the civil grand jury, is there anything else that's compelling in your history or your background that would make you the best choice for this position? yes, several -- actually i have a degree in nursing, but i also have worked aa security administrator at a very large

hotel in los angeles when i lived there, the beverly hilton, which required me to work with the secret service, the fbi advance team, and with a lot of political dignitaries and foreign dignitaries. so, i've had a lot of experience working with people and coordinating big events, you know, and also security for those individuals. >> thank you. no more questions. >> supervisor cohen. >> i was wondering if you had any experience with filing or auditing -- audit of campaign finance disclosure statements. during the civil grand jury experience, yes, we had to read many, many documents. because we did do a very thorough investigation of the ethics commission. >> can you describe your approach that you would take in exploring an ethics complaint?

we would first look at when it was filed and the department that an individual -- are you referring to a retaliation complaint? >> any kind of ethics complaint. there are many. right. okay. we would look to see which department in the city, if there had been other complaints about that department. and then start speaking to department heads, supervisors, and other individuals, possibly coworkers, and then start, you know, doing some excel spreadsheets and a variety of other steps that would help us to bring a clear conclusion to the complaint. >> i'm looking for a little more detail. when you say a variety of other

steps. maybe you can give an example of -- you talked about the one example [speaker not understood] -- the joint -- yes, with the civil grand jury. i'm looking to better understand you. i don't know you. so, i'm trying to understand your thought process, your approach me toed li, how do you approach -- your problem solving. okay. as an example, one of the complaints that we spoke about were the two doctors from lao abound a honda. i'll use that as an example. ~ laguna honda we looked to examine the complaint. it was turned over to the ethics commission because of the retaliation or the alleged retaliation that one of the doctors received. there was a back and forth ethics said no, that wasn't a

report for us or a complaint for us. the controller's office who administered the whistle blower program said, it wasn't us. so, we had to start looking into all of the documented information. then we goed an audit. after reading the audit, we said this is not thorough enough, we need something more detailed. so, we had to request that. then we spoke to the investigators who did the investigation for the whistleblower program. then on to the investigators at the ethics commission. started comparing the information, and then made our determination based on those findings. >> you at the civil grand jury made your determination, i understand that. what happened with the ethics commission? > were told at first all

information is confidential, which is true, but the grand jury operates under complete confidentiality, too. so, we almost had reached the point where we were going to have to subpoena the information, but fortunately we didn't have to take that step. and then we -- when we take testimony from individuals, we basically admonish them, giving them the information that everything is in complete confidence -- >> my question is what did the ethics commission do? well, they basically said that they investigated and found no violations. >> um-hm. but we could not agree with that because there was clear evidence that there had been some retaliation. so, -- >> so, you'll be a member -- if you join the ethics commission, you'll be a member of a body that consists of five members.

you'll have four other colleagues you'd have to work with. right. >> how would you begin the process to persuade them, in this case it sounds like you think the ethics commission was wrong. um-hm. >> how do you begin to persuade your colleagues to see things your way? well, i would show them the facts and the documentation, and then have a discussion with them. you know, trying to -- be very interested to hear their point of view, but i would also want there to be clarity about where the violations were and if there was -- they weren't following the city charter or ignoring the mandates of, let's say, the sunshine ordinance task force. maybe they would need to be reminded in order to, you know, make a clear decision. >> i think one commission

francisco when we were dealing to the forefront of san with ross mirkarimi and the sheriff's department. and a lot of it, a lot of discussion was around legal terms. i'm curious to know, since you don't have a legal background, how would you be able to approach this from a layperson's perspective? okay. i did attend all of the hearings for sheriff mirkarimi -- >> you attended those hearings for fun? i attended those hearings. >> there were many of them. that's right. but i was interested to see -- because this was sort of a new situation. this was uncharted waters for the ethics commission. and, so, i was interested to see, given my experience and what i have seen of the ethics commission, how they would handle that particular situation. and i will say that under the

chairmanship of bennedict herr, i was beginning to feel a little hopeful that things were turning a positive corner. but once that -- >> what do you mean hopeful? well, that maybe the sleeping watchdog was waking up and that they were taking steps to actually fulfill their, you know, mission. but after that -- and i thought, you know, in all fairness to the commission, that they handled that very, very well. but once that was over, there seemed to be less -- they seemed to be moving back in their usual position. one of the things i feel very strongly about is that the ethics commissioners have mandated or -- given their authority to the executive

director and the deputy, that they have not been as forceful -- i don't know that that's the appropriate word, but as -- that they haven't taken their responsibility as seriously as they should; that they allow the executive director to basically run the agenda or to -- he tells them what to do and there isn't -- >> i'm sorry, are you talking about john st. croix? yes. >> he tells the commission what to do? yes. >> how did you get to that opinion? just based on conversations with the current -- a couple of the current and some former commissioners and mr. st. croix and other members of his staff.

>> um-hm. so, i feel that the commissioners should be a little more authoritative in their role. >> okay, thank you. i have no further questions. but i would like to speak to mr. brett. mr. brett andrews. thank you, sir. sorry, you're not going to get away -- yes. >> i'm warmed up now. i see that. >> okay. so, you know, i think a lot of my questions are very similar to what i was asking the previous speaker. i would like you to describe to me your methodical approach to, to ethics complaints. how do you begin -- how would you approach to begin