Tsk, Tsk: The Latest On The Board Of Supes Code Of Conduct Proposals

Oh, Michela Alioto-Pier! Our favorite absentee supervisor finally straggled on in to an actual committee meeting, only to find out that the code of conduct she's proposing for the supervisors has loopholes big enough for a Mack truck to drive though.

As you may remember, Alioto-Pier (or MAP, as we like to call her) is spearheading the push to institute a code of conduct for supervisors, after the flap about Chris Daly saying that there were cocaine use allegations about Mayor Newsom. We can't find a copy of MAP's proposal online, but the Chron says it punishes "aggressive, abusive, or offensive conduct." (As you may recall, Daly in response is working on a code of conduct of his own, to prohibit sexual relationships between superiors and subordinates, and to require better attendance at board meetings.)

Problem is, MAP's proposal (to remove offending supes from committees) violates the City Charter (only the board president can do that) and state law (certain supes are required to serve on certain Bay Area-wide committees). And despite MAP's protests to the contrary, it seems like it might violate the First Amendment too. Sean Elsbernd also pointed out that the way the proposal is drafted, it could potentially be used by more strategic and procedurally-savvy supervisors (who could that be?) to harass others.

MAP's going to take a week to fix those loopholes, but as Tom Ammiano pointed out, fixing those loopholes would take away any punitive weight of the code of conduct. "I'm wondering, what's next? [Banning] eye rolls?" This type of commentary has people wondering if MAP'll actually even be able to get her code of conduct voted through -- but she's not dissuaded; she says she'll put it on the ballot if she gets voted down. (She needs 6 votes to get the rules passed by the Board, but only 4 to send it to us to decide.)