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Politics

City Ethics Commission Hearing On Emerald Violation Postponed

Press photo of Councilwoman Marti Emerald.
Courtesy of Marti Emerald
Press photo of Councilwoman Marti Emerald.

A hearing before San Diego City’s Ethics Commission today was postponed after Councilwoman Marti Emerald’s attorney challenged one of the commissioners.

A show down of sorts is in the cards. The Ethics Commission alleges Emerald failed to report campaign debts in a timely fashion. They have proposed fining her $10,000.

Emerald does not dispute the finding, but her attorney Bob Ottilie is challenging the Ethics Commission staff.

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“I am a strong supporter of the Ethics Commission,” Ottilie said after this morning’s hearing was postponed. “I was when it was founded; I’m still supportive of the Ethics Commission. This has nothing to do with the Ethics Commission, it has to do with their staff, which is, to a certain extent, out of control and unsupervised.”

Ottilie says the staff refused to sit down and negotiate a more reasonable settlement. He believes that was in retaliation against him because he spoke out against a proposal to give the Ethics Commission subpoena powers.

Ottilie asked one of the commissioners, Gil Cabrera, to be removed which means the full commission must now vote on a new panel to hold a hearing on Emerald’s violation at a later date.