Amy Lee Gets Her Revenge On San Francisco

Now here's a story we haven't mentioned in awhile, the poor saga of Amy Lee. Lee, if you remember, was the former head of the Building Inspection Department who was opposed by Joe O'Donaghue and his Residential Builders Association gang. During her confirmation hearing, members of the RBA got down and dirty and criticized her for all sorts of things, including the fact that she was pregnant and had "pregnancy brain."

Well, Lee filed a suit with the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing for having to go through all that nastiness. She eventually got her position after another raucous hearing but felt that the criticisms, especially the "pregnancy brain" comment, were "'defamatory, harassing and unlawful statements.'" Her lawyer added that all the craziness "really took the joy out of her being pregnant."

On April 17, the Board of Supes agreed to a settlement, mainly money, reimbursement of legal fees, and twenty weeks of backdated maternity leave. The only member of the Board who voted against the settlement was Tom Ammiano who claimed the settlement was too much and that nasty comments said in public meetings are all par for the course. Dennis Herrera, however, said that part of the settlement was due to stuff that happened outside the hearing. Hmmm…maybe it was because some nefarious organization tried to ruined her Christmas?