Molina Says Panel Violated Brown Act

At a particularly contentious meeting of the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, Supervisor Gloria Molina accused fellow board members of repeatedly violating the Brown Act, a state law regulating meetings of elected government bodies.

The board meeting also took on political overtones when Molina tangled with Supervisor Deane Dana over his position on a controversial pension plan. Dana’s position on the plan has become a central issue in his hotly contested reelection campaign against Rolling Hills Mayor Gordana Swanson.

Molina’s allegations on the Brown Act came as the board debated, and later approved, her motion to reform how the county keeps records of the supervisors’ private, closed sessions.

“We’ve had less meetings in closed session since I’ve been here, and I think it’s for a reason--because some of those things . . . in closed session were inappropriate,” Molina said. “I have seen instances in which I don’t think the Brown Act is being properly followed.”

The other board members did not immediately dispute Molina’s charges. Three supervisors joined her in voting for the motion, which requires the board to keep a more complete and accurate record of its private meetings.

Molina declined to provide details about how the law may have been violated. She did say, however, that on more than one occasion board members began discussing in private meetings subjects well outside the strict guidelines of the Brown Act, which limits closed sessions to legal and personnel issues.

“Once, we were called back there to be lobbied on an issue,” Molina said in an interview. The person speaking to the supervisors on that occasion was a county department chief urging support on an issue not covered by the Brown Act, Molina said, declining to be more specific.

“I put a stop to it,” Molina said of the meeting.

In Tuesday’s other important development, Dana created a minor parliamentary crisis when he had trouble deciding whether to vote yes or no on a motion related to a controversial pension program.

At issue was a report by the Citizen’s Economy and Efficiency Commission on pension increases, which Molina has portrayed as a $265-million giveaway to the county’s highest-paid administrators. Molina insisted on hearing the commission’s report next week, before the Nov. 3 election.

At first, Dana voted with Molina against a motion that would have delayed further action on the pensions until Nov. 17. Supervisor Mike Antonovich was absent, and only supervisors Ed Edelman and Kenneth Hahn voted for the motion. With the vote tied 2-2, Dana, who is the board’s chair, declared “so ordered . . . (the motion) fails. Fails.” Forty-five seconds passed and then, without explanation, Dana changed his vote to yes.

Molina argued that, under parliamentary rules, it was too late for Dana to switch his vote. Solicited for an opinion, County Counsel DeWitt Clinton said he did not believe Dana had officially announced the results of the vote and that Dana could still switch.

Molina disputed the opinion and suggested replaying an audio recording to clarify what Dana had said. “I heard him; he said it failed,” Molina said. Finally, she gave up and decided not to press the issue further.

A check of the tape revealed that Dana had, in fact, announced the vote as final.

Dana spokesman Dennis Morefield said: “It was a simple slip of the tongue. He meant to vote ‘yes’ and said ‘no.’ ”

Molina said she found Dana’s switch on the vote ironic, since he has been issuing campaign mailers stating that he “is working with Supervisor Gloria Molina in reversing Los Angeles County’s obscene pension-spiking practice costing the taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Several times during the meeting, Molina mocked Dana’s mailers: “Are you with me on this, my partner?”

Swanson, Dana’s opponent in the race for the 4th District supervisorial seat, criticized Dana’s actions.

“He’s talking out of both ends of his mouth, as usual,” Swanson said. “Obviously, he did not want to go on the record before the election.”

Morefield, Dana’s spokesman, said the supervisor agreed with commission members who said they needed more time to finish their report.

Also on Tuesday, the board once again postponed action on whether to lower General Relief welfare payments, a budget-related decision it has put off for months. The matter is scheduled to be discussed Nov. 10.