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Menlo mayor election will be voided after possible Brown Act violations

Original post made on Dec 10, 2010

Menlo Park council member Kelly Fergusson said in an e-mail today (Thursday, Dec. 9) that the election of mayor and vice mayor two days ago will be voided and the council will hold a special meeting to re-vote on both positions as a result of potential Brown Act violations on her part. She made the statements in an e-mail sent to the Menlo Park City Council after she consulted the city attorney.
==B Related stories:==
■ [Web Link Newly elected Menlo Park mayor may have violated Brown Act]
■ [Web Link Kelly Fergusson elected Menlo Park mayor by 3-2 council vote]

Read the full story here Web Link posted Thursday, December 9, 2010, 11:17 AM

Comments (7)

Posted by Menlo Park resident
a resident of Menlo Park
on Dec 10, 2010 at 12:20 pm

Now Kelly Ferguson has resigned.
In my opinion Andy Cohen would be a unsatisfactory replacement. The Council should elect any of the other three as Mr. Cohen is an embarassment to Menlo Park.


Posted by DejaVuPA
a resident of Charleston Meadows
on Jan 8, 2016 at 10:12 am

Seems like we have a similiar situation in Palo Alto this year. People are acting like its not a big deal, politics as usual but [portion removed] when it happened in Menlo Park the mayor had the decency to resign


Posted by Interested
a resident of Greenmeadow
on Jan 8, 2016 at 10:36 am

This is really interesting. Does anyone know how this came about? Is there a way to file a complaint as a concerned citizen?

Thanks.


Posted by Neighbor
a resident of Community Center
on Jan 8, 2016 at 1:03 pm

I believe the district attorney handles investigations in cases like this. If you want to complain about the Palo Alto mayor election raise it with the district attorney of Santa Clara County.


Posted by Response
a resident of Fairmeadow
on Jan 9, 2016 at 1:05 pm

Burt wouldn't resign unless the proof of wrong doing were broadcast live.


Posted by Peter Carpenter
a resident of Atherton
on Jan 9, 2016 at 1:23 pm

Peter Carpenter is a registered user.

"This is really interesting. Does anyone know how this came about"

Yes - I became aware that three members of the MP City Council has communicated ( two directly and one via a third party) outside an agendized public meeting on the election of the Mayor and I brought this to the attention of the MP City Attorney. When he confirmed the facts then the Council was required to void the election and to have a new election for Mayor.


Posted by CitizenZ
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Jan 11, 2016 at 11:52 am

@DejavuPS,
If Scharff had any decency, he wouldn't have run again, shamelessly portraying himself as a residentialist and flogging a quote from Bob Moss that he used without permission, making it seem as if Moss endorsed him.

But our city attorney has never shown any inclination to independence. What would concerned citizens do to leverage a revote if Brown Act violations were indeed an issue? The prepared statements are kind of a smoking gun....


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