San Juan Capistrano Councilman Reeve's Take on Compromise

I would like to address the meeting of Tuesday November 19, 2013.

To begin; I had a meeting Tuesday night prohibiting my attendance from this apparent councilmanic item. The Mayor and staff were informed the Friday before. I could not imagine how the council would have this meeting without all five councilmembers in attendance. I then discovered Monday the Mayor insisted the meeting, allegedly designed to bring civility to the council, would continue without a key member. I urged everyone involved to wait, but clearly the majority wanted to take advantage of the fact that I would not be there. You cannot have a peace conference without the participation of all parties. Instead the city held my trial in absentia.

While it is appropriate to halt any investigation, it is fascinatingly convenient to stop the investigation against Councilman Byrnes only. The majority cannot accuse Byrnes of a violation without acknowledging a vote took place. This would in fact require an investigation of the three member majority. In order to avoid an investigation of themselves they just freed Byrnes.

The vote to send a letter to the Attorney General was not even a legal vote. It was not properly listed on the agenda. In fact there was no staff-originated agenda report, only a vague letter from the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. I am prohibited from legally acting on this vote until it is properly returned to the city council for a lawful discussion and vote.

Finally and most disturbing is the assistant city attorney Patrick Munoz previously provided legal counsel to me regarding this subject matter and then, this past Tuesday provided the remainder of the council a legal conclusion as to my legal culpability. This would appear to be a conflict of interest. Rutan & Tucker should keep their original commitment and withdraw from all further discussion regarding this matter.

I am all in favor of ending the rancor in city politics. However having people sing kumbaya around the bonfire while I am being barbecued holding the Constitution does not appear to be the ingredients to lasting civility.

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