to be blunt, i look at the ethics commission as a lap dog commission. and that is not healthy for san francisco's democracy. please, my take-home message for you today is develop strong watch dog principals. carry them out. start enforcing the power and the decisions that are coming here from the task force when we're not getting documents or being able to -- not adhering to the law. i have a statement for the record and one copy for the chair. thank you. >> good evening, commissioners. oliver luby here. regarding a package of campaign finance reform amendments proposed by your staff and passed in november, the report does not fully describe the rejection that the amendment package effectively received of the june 7 meeting of the board of supervisors rules committee. the report summarizes the outcome in rules by asking they were engaged in another public process regarding the amendments and that the frequency of disclosure should not be reduced. it did not mention was the strong public outcry about the amendments. not only did the amendments decrease b

>> members of the ethics commission. let me guess you're going to vote that nothing you discussed the subject to disclosure. i impression. i am amazed the commission seems to be exposed -- composed of no one but superhuman. and never discussed anything you should disclose. most human beings find it difficult to stay on track that closely. most humanon

ethics commission staff, and by that i mean mr. sage current -- mr. st. croix -- i would argue that you have missed it completely the spirit of the law. the police commission, they give us the tate -- the type of case, the case number. they give us some idea of what they are going in the back to discuss, and what you have here, there is no way anybody would have the faintest idea, and i have a hard time believing there is not a single thing you can tell the public about what you're going back there to discuss that would allow them to make meaningful comment on whether or not a closed session is appropriate. i do believe closed sessions are used in an inappropriate way very often for things that you just do not want to deal with in front of the public, and i am not just talking about the ethics commission. i am talking about all city commissions. just slap litigation or a lawsuit where some name on it, and we can go in the back and discuss anything we want, and commissioner studley can shake her head, but as one member who almost never ever sees any discus

based on the ethics rules. the insurance companies have said its problems are not incompetence which used to be the old -- if you got statute of limitations, conflicts of interest, disqualification and other violation of the ethics rules. we got more and more lawyers disciplined. there's a lot of problems out there to be sure but there's some suggestion that more lawyers are becoming sensitive. the other thing is that i'm troubled -- actually, scott, i'm troubled by this notion in the alden case where the lawyers did the right thing by keeping their mouths shut. i talked to these lawyers. they never told their clients once, they thought they would be executed. maybe we could work out a deal for you if you confess to this other thing. or why did you tell us this? do you want to be cajoled to do the right thing. lawyers can ask their clients to do something right. this never occurred to them. let's keep quiet. they didn't ask the client about waiving. and they could have.

when you could to ethics and say, "this is nonsense," the answer is a bureaucratic reply, "well, but that is the correct way to do it." either they need to fix the program, or i have asked, why can i not do schedule d on paper and provided that way, and then finally, i came up with a matrix that has the vertical sums, and the horizontal sums. the same as the matrix but with only 22 numbers, and i did it that way, so instead of 16 pages, it is like six pages of schedule d. this is all nonsense because no one is ever going to look at this, and they need to correct the program or else give us some relief. i do not think there are many clubs who are putting up this kind of a slate card. it is just a $5,000 late card. chair hur: thank you, ma'am. >> excuse me. oliver here. the prior speakers' concerns about schedule d are very well founded. this was bootstrapped on to the system. it is not user friendly. there can be some improvements there. it works great for kids, but it is hard for the small pac's. the rationale for ending paper filing that it is more costly and inconvenient to continu

it is an ethical undertaking. and i think that that basically is what i'm re -- referring to, but there's an obligation who work for the president to see to it that they act porlly in every case. >> are you still a fellow at the ethics and public policy center? >> i sure. >> what is that? >> the ethics and public policy center is a think tank in washington. this one originated about 14, 15 years ago. it basically focuses on the relationship between the ethical dimension of our existence and public policy. and it does a number of studies regarding public policy in religion, involving the school, the court, the legal system. >> who supports it? >> it's supported by a variety of contributors. it's a nonpartisan organization, it is a on the dogs supported institution. >> how big is it? >> there are 10 to 12 individuals who work there. it is a small unit compared to the many larger ones here in town. >> who runs? >> george wiegle is the president. he's written a new book coming out this fall dealing with the revolution

. >> the ethic's commission is expected to decide tonight whether to subpoena him. >>> body found at the brown -- dublin-pleasanton bart station. investigators say the body is that of a woman. police are investigating how she died. >>> the biggest child pornography operation in northern california history. "operation chickenhawk." ktvu's janine de la vega tells us one officer described the images as haunting. >> reporter: we are here on blossom hour, police took a 32- year-old moon who lives here into cust -- man who lives here into custody for child pornography. 10 men today have been arrested for that. >> reporter: police spanned out surprising people they believe have child pornography in their home. you can see one of them. he was arrested at this house. the internet crimes against children task force was able to target them through decoy operation. >> they think they are trading peer to peer child pornography when they are raiding with police officers. >> reporter: police arrested this teen. neighbors say he just graduated from high school. >> he is very nice. we always say hi,

and she is the professor's professor and the professional on the subject of our panel on ethics. an associate professor at northern illinois university. another illinois person i'm glad to say where she teaches about professional responsibility. so she will have some very good insights into our subject. she also was an associate at my old law firm, jenner & block and a partner at michael, best and frederick. so let's talk about some of the things we are going to talk about today just to set the stage for the questions i'll ask the panelists and they may want to ask each other questions, as well. we'll look at what were the ethical dilemmas that lawyers involved in the watergate case had to face and what were the dilemmas that actually got them in trouble? and we'll talk with about what the rules that they were operating under at the time. what the rules are now. whether those rules are an improvement. whether it would have changed the outcome, the same either way or maybe even worse. and i also want to make sure they address whether they really think these were ethical lapses or

>> members of the ethics commission. let me guess you're going to vote that nothing you discussed the subject to disclosure. i impression. i am amazed the commission seems to be exposed -- composed of no one but superhuman. and never discussed anything you should disclose. most human beings find it difficult to stay on track that closely. most human conversation can -- tends to wander off track from time to time. you, however, maintain such close control was maintained you never move on to another topic. and never discussed anything that you -- should be disclosed. wow, i am impressed. could it be that you have discussed things and having exhausted the topics, someone says we should not have this -- should discuss this as we would have to disclose that so let's disclose the discussion. we should return to the discussion we told the public we were going to have. what a scam. i find it incomprehensible sometimes to watch boards and commissions who will do things that just make no sense because they do it every single time.

for "religion and ethics for "religion and ethics news weekly," i'm tim o'brien in washington. >>> we have a story today about climate change in africa, where the glacier on top of mount kilimanjaro is melting, causing fear of drought and famine in the farmland below. also, where a lutheran bishop is leading a campaign to try to head off disaster by planting trees. millions of them. lucky severson reports from tanzania. >> reporter: the greeting is especially rambunctious because we're traveling with the african version of johnny appleseed. some call him the "tree bishop." >> the parish pastor has given us a copy of the report. >> reporter: of all the trees they have planted. >> yes, showing the total number which has been planted only by this parish is 46,083. >> reporter: his name is frederick shoo and he is the assistant bishop of the northern diocese of the evangelical lutheran church of tanzania. he oversees 500,000 members and 164 parishes. the bishop is on a crusade to plant trees to save the glaciers on mount kilimanjaro. >> at the beginning it was very difficult to be underst

the drama over san francisco's suspended sheriff is now in the hands of an ethics commission >> still to come, what are the chances of in keeping his job. >> first, his wife speaks out. her message to women in domestic violence in a one-on- one interview >> we will get a little bit of a break from the heat today and more of a break in the coming week. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, >> the search continues for a suspect who fired at a chp squad car in oakland last night at the high street exit. it's not clear what led to the shooting but officers did arrest two people. the shooter remains on the run >> and have not been allowed contact for six months but the suspended sherpa's been reunited with his wife iliana lopez. a judge decided to lift a protective order that separated the couple. joe vazquez sat down with lopez as she tries to set the record straight on that infamous video. >> it happened yesterday, when we made that video, there was evidence that something happened that i can say on want to divorce or i think if he tried to take him away from me, no >> was it real? were you crying or did you

jack young cannot legally or ethically vote on many important issues. david collins joins us from city hall with a follow-up to a story broke in to jammer. >> since coming to office, jack young says he abstains out of an avoidance -- an abundance of caution. we also challenged that ruling or that exploration because it let him off the hook on a lot of unpopular and tough decisions. since then, he has asked the city board of ethics for an opinion and some feel that ruling severely limits his ability to effectively serve. >> the ad team has learned that jack young could lose his seat, and be fined and cause contracts to become null and void by voting on issues relating to to private entities. >> this is one of those cases where the law parts company with common sense. >> he must recused himself from voting on all matters involving dpw, the city housing authority, the mayor's office of information technology, johns hopkins hospital, and a local head start center. what is the opinion do? >> it basically handcuffs him. >> we examined five months of minutes a

but the ethics could or could not allow this. >> and you're right. the mayor sounded really angry in that statement. >> it's not a friendly fight. >> not at all. thanks very much. >>> it was a scorcher out there this afternoon. temperatures topping the triple digits in our inland valleys. 105 in pleasanton, 104 in livermore, 103 in antioch and fairfield. but these temperatures did not break any records. in san jose, the previous record was 99. we mised that by 12 degrees -- missed that by 12 degrees. and santa rosa, the previous record was 113. it's going to stay hot out there tomorrow. not this hot. we're going to start a cooling trend. temperatures for tomorrow afternoon coming up. >>> a 200-acre wildfire in the sierra foothills dubbed the robber's fire is now 20% contained. you're looking at video of the fire that broke out about 3:20 this afternoon. 250 firefighters, 6 helicopters working to bring it under control. the red cross is providing shelter overnight for residents. >>> in the bay area, one east bay community is struggling to deal with fi

she is expected to testify before the ethics commission within the hour. we have some live footage from inside that hearing. lopez is expected to go before the commission after the campaign manager, lynnette haynes, takes the stand. the protective order is still in effect but legal experts tell us that should not apply to this proceeding, so he should be allowed to stay in the room as his wife takes the stand. it was a portrait of family harmony on the day of his inauguration as iliana lopez stood smiling beside her husband with their 3-year-old son. it's an image that lopez wants the ethics commission to focus on. >> i think that, yes, she does have a goal and the goal is to sort of set the record straight because there's been so much misinformation that she feels that it is important to come and tell the ethics commission the truth of the situation. >> but instead there are these images of lopez with a bruised arm and in tears after a fight with her husband that mighte too hard to forget. lopez hopes to put that video taken by lopez's neighbor, ivory mad

the only rule was in an ec, an ethical consideration, not a dr. and the ecs meant we'd like you to do it but you can't be disciplined. there was no dr. it was an ec that said the lawyer is the lawyer for the organization. >> actually, what it said is the lawyer owes his allegiance -- >> it's even weaker. >> it's a very nebulous -- >> even weaker. but interestingly, and i'm not trying to say this proves mardian was not guilty, what he did was actually what the aba eventually adopted. he said to gordon liddy, i am not your lawyer, so i am not your lawyer. i'm going to tell john mitchell everything you tell me. all right. the question you asked on cross-examination, did you explain to liddy that mitchell could waive the privilege, mardian's response was, well, that was a risk that liddy had to take. but, of course, we all know liddy didn't worry about that because he knew that john mitchell knew as much as he did, so he was i don't think concerned that mitchell was going to turn him in. >> because what he was saying was that mitchell was the one who

to investigate the complaints, to accomplish the kind of hotline, the imposed sanctions for the ethical violations. she provided those opinions to the government employees, to recommend the changes, the laws, the rules, to produce the ethics training for those guys, to enforce that, they also need to hire the staff and they had also have responsibility for not only the ethics issues in the government accountability, but also the open government. which we have assumed, you know, that function under their views, like that as well. so again i would like to personally thank them. i want to thank you all for your commitment to the public service. and each of them, they have stories, careers, of course, the attorney general for the columbus area for our capacity. someone that i have known for a number of years. and i really appreciate that here. willing to step on up to do this. and related to all three of them, attorneys, she's done a lot of consultant -- consultant work as well, and we thank you to be able to make time and to be able to do this. and for richards, they recently retired as th

some say that the mayor lied to the ethics commission. joe vasquez spoke to the mayor today to get some answers. >> as a matter of fact the suspended sherrif is now officially accusing the mayor of lying under oath. as a matter of fact, his attorneys are asking the ethics commission to come forward with for subpoenas for individuals, some of whom are seated officials and some formal officials and they say they could prove the mayor said some things under oath that turned out not to be true. the mayor, just like he said in a statement yesterday, told reporters today that enough is enough. >> i have told the truth to the ethics commission. >> the san francisco mayor speaking out to cameras for the first time since accusations started flying that he lied before the ethics commission during the hearing last month. he insists that he suspended the were sherrif because ross mirkarimi plead guilty to domestic violence against his own life. >> these individuals that they are climbing i authorize some job announcement, that is totally false. >> th

by now, each of those nine complaints should have been dismissed without a hearing before the ethics commission. the one and only hearing this body has given to any sunshine ordinance task force referral was at the time of the grand jury report when it was issued and the report said you have never conducted a hearing. i would have a really hard time justifying the fact that in all of the hundreds of hearings, and a few dozen that were referred to this ethics commission, just one was even considered by the commissioners. in open government matters, you have effectively sided with the city and against the citizens in every single case. you can use species ways of dismissing but realistically, can you say that hundreds of citizens who filed the complaints, it gets winnowed down by the task force to a few dozen and referred to you for enforcement and yet, you cannot even bother to consider them? elect a staff dismiss them, and you simply accept it bluntly. -- you simply dismiss them, and discipline except it. -- you simply acceoppt it. you can say, we are try to work on this but justice

she finished her testimony this week before the surface of ethics commission hand wrapped up last night saying december 31st incident between her and the suspended sherrif which led to her having a bruised arm was not domestic abuse. a neighbor videotaped for days after the incident showing her bruised, lopez said that she was emotional and the video because she was thinking about her son. >> the moment when i start to cry is when i talk about theo. that is the point that made me cry in the video, and i said that he could take him away for me. >> she says that she regrets making that video and that she felt pressured to do so by her neighbor. she has expressed support for her husband and says that she looks forward to just being the sheriff's wife again. as for the ethics commission, they will meet again august 16th when they're expected to make their recommendation about this case to the same francisco board of supervisors regarding if the share should be able to keep his job, it would take a vote of nine out of 11 supervisors to approve or deny the sherrif his job. we're live this mor

. >>> this is a big day in the ethics probe of ross mirkarimi. mirkarimi's wife eliana lopez is back in the bay area after flying in her native area ever venezuela. lopez has been meeting with her attorney and getting ready for the hear which could determine her husband's fate. >>> ben bernanke goes back to the capitol in just about an hour from now. coming up the warning bernanke had for congress when he testified yesterday. >>> later today the white house will announce a new program to create master teachers and science technology, engineering, and math. under this plan teachers selected for the laster teacher core will get on top of $20,000 a year if the white house is to keep informer -- you are competing with founts around the world. sal has been looking at the traffic to see if there are any green spots, yellow spots. how is it looking? >> it's not looking all that bad. let's go outside and talk about air delays. it will be an hour and 48 minutes. those these delays are not as see very as they thought they would be yesterday. yesterday they

so did the ethics committee get it wrong in the senate? >> well, the ethics committee in general is fairly impotent. usually the voters have to deal with this and make these types of decisions. what we could not directly tie was, hey, you got this sweetheart deal in exchange directly for this particular vote or for changing a piece of legislation. we could never tie these two together but you can see what the consequences were. the taxpayers ended up footing all of these bills and at the same time some of the key people on finance and banking and the key staffers, one term was this person has the pen in hand. they were a staffer actually helping to write this legislation. you can understand why when this lobbyist said to the committee this is why this person was targeted, you can see that there was -- there was an attempt here to influence. >> the report now concludes that congress should consider making it illegal for company to offer discounts or other preferential treatment to members of congress or their staff. i think most people woul

with society out of touch with the founding principles of this nation and out of touch with judicial ethics is the time he was tossed out of the chamber. in the best of the rest of the news this is average every culture secretary tom vilsack apparently he gets on his knees every day and prays for rain at least what he told white house reporters on wednesday acknowledging that our nation is now in the worst drought in more than fifty years and scorching hot weather is killing agricultural crops and pushing prices food prices to record highs soybean prices closed at a record high on wednesday and corn which is a staple in the american diet close to the near record high price after jumping up fifty percent over the last month and with grain prices rising that means an increase in prices across the board for meat to poultry to dairy currently drought conditions are persisting in more than sixty percent of the lower forty eight states and over the short term the weather forecast isn't providing much relief for farmers as more heat and dry conditions are. expected over the long term as the planet

the second ethical point is i hope most of you agree with this. i do not believe that anybody should be punished simply for what we put into our own bodies absent harm to others. nobody deserves to be punished for what we put in our bodies absent harm to others. hurt somebody, yes and not tell me your addiction was the excuse. we need to be regarded as sovereign over our minds and bodies. the criminal law should not be treating anyone as a criminal for what we put in here. when one is trying to pursue a particular public health or public safety objective, reducing the harm of drugs or whatever it might be. and when you have powerful evidence that a non-course of system can accomplish that public safety health objective as well or better than a course of system, when the portugal- like object of can accomplish that for better or lower cost, it is a matter of good public policy and a matter of ethics and morality. those three key moral points are fundamental in the state in this country. thank you. >> in closing the program, i want to thank all of y

this is a big day in the ethics investigation.rimi's wife eliana lopez is back here in the bay area after flying in from venezuela. she is due to testify in person before the ethic's commission at city hall later this evening. >> very close call for one lucky car owner right there. a big oak tree crashed down on a mountain road in saratoga. that is a big one. the branches covered up the car that was parked rob the street. i can tell you that the car was not even scratched. incredible. >> and uc rejets will meet in a couple hours from now. they are expected to vote on a tuition freeze for under graduates. but they are also expected to raise the fees for professional schools. protestors say they will be there. they are planning what they are calling a zombie takeover during the public comment period. >> we are following developing news out of syria this morning. a syrian rebel commander has claimed responsibility for attack today that killed two high level government officials. that includes president assad's brother-in-law. the cap