ROUND ONE: Look out , Brenda Barnette! Irene Ponce--Throwing her presumed weight around.

 I feel for Brenda Barnette. Her plate is already mighty full with "have to be done now" things. Aside from the miracles she's supposed to pull off in the shelters and the department ---not to mention her new boss, Linda Barth--  Barnette has this rag tag poor excuse for a Board to deal with....and it's getting nasty in that chamber...at least a little. While Melanie's away, the cat will play

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ROUND ONE
July 27, 2010 From the audio:



Following the license revocation hearing, the regular meeting commenced. President Ramayer and Commissioner Khero were both absent. Present were vice president Irene Ponce, Commissioners Kathleen Riordan and Ruthanne Secunda.

The first item on the agenda was the annual election of Board Officers. Normally, the mayoral staff dictate to the Commissioners who may be elected to which position. Call it tradition but it certainly is not ethical and may be illegal. More on that later.

                      Irene Ponce...is there a little evil in there?

TIME 00:31:30 ish

Secretary: First item on the agenda is Commission Business--annual election of Commission officers for 2010 2011.

Riordan: My suggestion is we hold off 'til we have a full Commission.

Ponce: (immediately and tersely) Commissioner uh Riordan, can you let me speak please? Thank you. I am the vice president here. So, what I'd like to say is that we table this , Ross,  to the next meeting so that--Commission Business, item number A--I say that we table that to the next--you're welcome (to off mic person)--to the next meeting.

Secretary: We'll hold that Item "1A" 'til the next meeting. "B" is the approval  of the Commission minutes--

Riordan: Excuse me. Does that require a motion to do that?

Secretary: Um...Dov (Lesel, City attorney)?

City Attorney: Probably.

Secretary: Uh..okay.Is there a motion to continue it to the next meeting?

Riordan: Thank you , Ross.  Yes, I move that we hold it over to the next meeting.

Secretary: Is there a second?

Secunda: I second the motion.

Secretary: All in favor?

Riordan: Aye

Secunda: Aye

Riordan: Thank you.

Ponce: Thank you, Commissioner Riordan. (forgets to vote. Technically this passes with 2 votes in favor).

The meeting continues:

Score: Riodan 1/ Ponce 0

Next: ROUND TWO

Who knows what got into Ponce?! Delusions of grandeur? A personal grudge?  She has never presided over a meeting Too bad there's no video. ;) This Board has never followed Roberts Rules of order. There's never really been any kind of order for Riordan to have been out of. Mostly, the Commissioners are casual and speak freely and are courteous, at least, to each other and all others present. We still have to go back and see if her tantrum was evident during the appeal hearing. This isn't the first time that Irene Ponce has had an eruption on the record. The last one that I know of occurred after I , during public comment on an election of officers, exposed the election as a sham and predicted the results prior to voting. I was right. Ponce cursed and bitched and moaned until she had to be shut up. I'll dig that tape up and post it when I get around to it. It's classic for sure.