so, i'm here to speak on behalf of my colleague lee hepner. worked with and observed lee in his capacity on the board, as a board member of the harvey milk democratic club. he's one of the most knowledgeable and professional members of the board. lee clearly exhibits a passion for open, honest, and ethical city government. in his capacity in the club as well as in his career as a civil rights attorney. lee has experience managing issues and conflicts among club members as well as with members of the general public that interact with the organization. he would be a valuable addition to any city commission, especially the sunshine ordinance task force. san francisco needs people like lee hepner involved in local government and i hope you will please give his interest consideration and appoint him. thank you. >>> i'm bruce board man. i'm here to check on my supervisor, supervisor yee and also close by, supervisor tang. i'm in west portal. i'm delighted to see the roster of good candidates here before the supervisor for thea key jobs. i want to ma

next up is lee anthony hepner. >> hello. >> good afternoon. my name is lee hepner ~. thanks for the opportunity to speak before you today. i am a civil rights litigation attorney. i'm a community organizer with the harvey milk democratic club. as an attorney much of my practice focuses on freedom of expression and in many instances my clients have benefited from use of the california public records act, use of the brown act as well. which mandates open public hearings. in my experience on the harvey milk club, i participated in public comments before the board of supervisors and various committees. i've also provided forums for public comment. i have myself admittedly grappled with occasional member complaints about incidental failure to post agenda in advance of a meeting and i'm very familiar with dealing with and addressing complaints. to put on my advocacy hat just a second, i think the importance of open government is twofold. on the one hand citizens have more trust in the government when they know what that government is doing. it is as simple as knowing how ma

next up is lee anthony hepner. >> hello. >> good afternoon. my name is lee hepner ~. thanks for the opportunity to speak before you today.

[speaker not understood] myself sent on behalf of lee hepner in support of his appointment to the sunshine task force. so, expounding the harvey milk club 40 years ago, the club has advocated to have lgbt representation at all levels of city government from the board of supervisors to city commissions and task forces, task forces, excuse me. lee's outstanding leadership at our club's executive board for the past two years has demonstrated exactly the sort of leadership and outgoingness that this task force needs from lgbt voices. during his multiple terms, he has showed commitment to public process, routinely redthving the club at board meetings and commission hearings. he's also demonstrated a soundness of judgment and ability to listen to all side of an argument which are traits that some would say are a rarity. [speaker not understood]. i hope eula point lee to the sunshine task force so he can be as much of an asset to this task force as he has been to our club. ~ you'll appoint efficient i would also like to encourage you to appoint lee wolf. two years ago we wrote a letter requesting

a number of other candidates that could have been moved forward, including the highly qualified lee hepner and, you know, while i actually appreciate that some of these names didn't move forward, i think that it's important for us to look at these appointments in their totality so that we're not in any way not following what the sunshine ordinance require. i do have a question for legal counsel, though. >> mr. givner? >> so, i guess, you know, my main concern is that by not moving forward the nomination by the sbj and the league of women voters that we are essentially in violation of the sunshine ordinance. and i was wondering if you could comment, through the chair, if you could comment on that in term of the legality of the board simply saying, we're not going to fill those vacancies. >> deputy city attorney jon givner. the sunshine ordinance provides that those organizations will nominate and the board will confirm. ultimately, the ordinance itself doesn't restrict the board to approving the nominees that are submitted by those organizations. so, at this point the organization has, has