2007-09-12 Board of Ethics Minutes mc

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you. The letter that I wrote to the editor was responding to a letter written by a woman named Linda Berry. CHAIR: Do you have a copy of that? SIRACUSA: I do. CHAIR: Could we ask -- SIRACUSA: I would like to submit it and maybe have - -give you a moment or two to look it over. CHAIR: Could we ask Mary to make four copies- SIRACUSA: Because otherwise, things don't make sense in the file -- CHAIR: - -and we could—do we need to recess? Okay. I think sharing it with us would be a good idea. SIRACUSA: I think it sets the tone for the CHAIR: - -I personally read it, as I do most letters to the editor. LUM: But I don't get that paper. CHAIR: Yeah. But I'm not sure all the Board members have seen it. LUM: Sometimes I read it. (Mr. Ashida left the room to make copies of the letter.) SECRETARY: I think you might need to recess, even if only for a minuteI don't know. CHAIR: Okay, let's take a short, two - minute recess till Mr. Ashida returns. (A brief recess was taken while copies of the letter were made and the Board members reviewed it.) CHAIR: Okay, let's reconvene the meeting. Mrs. Siracusa? SIRACUSA: I would like to start off by saying that, to the best of my recollection, when I took my oath as a Planning Commissioner I did not give up my First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and freedom of expression. That said, I would like to point out that I wrote the letter to the editor as a private individual. Nowhere in that letter did I say that I was speaking for the Planning Commission or for any organization. Mr. Henderson disapproved of what I had to say, as is his right. I never expect everyone to agree with every letter, and I was very surprised when he responded in 9