The Council, in response to my "Cure and Correct Demand" made under Section 54960.1 b of the Brown Act, has quite properly declared the initial election (which was contaminated by Fergusson's admitted violation of the Brown Act) as null and void and held a new election. This satisfies my "cure and Correct Demand" but does nothing to punish Fergusson's violation of the Brown Act.

Section 54959 provides for penalties for an individual who violated the Brown Act and there is no provision for forgiving such individual violations simply because the legislative body has corrected the damage done by that violation. Nor does the Act allow the legislative body to in any way punish a member who violates the Act - that is the sole responsibility of the DA and the judicial system.

If saying "I am sorry" when an elected official gets caught is considered as punishment then there would be no incentive for elected officials to comply with the Act - just do everything in secret and, if you get caught, say "Sorry".

I at least want to acknowledge the District Attorney's office for this investigation. This is a good start.

All elected officials should take this as a warning that Brown Act violations are serious. And they should note that their status as elected officials does not indemnify them from criminal prosecution.

At the minimum, Ms. Fergusson deserves a few sleepless nights for her sheer insolence. She needs to respect those laws that she so easily imposes on others.

I reserve judgement until I see the outcome of this investigation. The DA's office does not have a good record when it comes to policing the police or politicians.

Kelly has served Menlo Park well and there's no harder worker.

On the other hand there were suspicions raised when at the last minute she changed her position to support of the Gateway project in return for some modest landscaping. Doubts were raised then about potential back-room politics.

Combine that with this clear violation of the Brown Act and earlier her admitted use of the City email for more back-room politicking, I for one have concluded she's no longer to be trusted and should resign.

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