FPPC investigated many county officials, exonerates them all.

Hi, oldguy49...Your right again...The putrid County is finally beginning to realize that all the evidence they thought they had destroyed, had under "privilege" , was under seal, or McKee had sworn people NOT to talk about, Collins has probably preserved and NOW people are beginning to nail them and they are sweating bullets as to just exactly what evidence he does have, and the things witnesses in SF are saying about what really did happen that refutes them 100% is BAD news for them..Weeks chose a wrong path..Lied up a storm, I think based on the Counties assurance they would cover for him and probably gave him a pretty good severance package...He is really in deep do now...Could even mean jail time..Perjury, obstruction of justice...

Welcome Maenad, to the conversation. Sympathy for Weeks is in short supply around these parts. Not sure the point you are making with cross pollinating leeches, but I will assume you are not happy with the situation. Ask yourself some very basic questions, I can assure you Collins attorney will in trial: 1) Weeks is a department head, did he act alone in his deception and perjury, if so, why? 2) If he did not act alone, who at the County possesses the strength and power to coerce him into perjuring himself, and conspiring with them? 3) What threat could they use against him to turn on his one time friend and throw him under the bus? 4) Who benefits from Weeks malfeasance? 5) We now know Weeks perjured himself with the DA and FPPC, did he also a few weeks ago in the Civil trial deposition in San Francisco? 6) If so, why, what is in this for Weeks to lie? 7) Does his settlement agreement with the County bind him to a set story and deviation could have repercussions? 8) Did the County agree to indemnify Weeks from prosecution to get him to stick with the story?
It is probably a safe bet that the Weeks tape caught the DA and County completely by surprise. While the County has shredded and hid every document related to this case they can find, are they willing to bet that Collins does not have the evidence he says he has? How will it play in Court when e-mails and other records start getting introduced that show a number of people perjured themselves with the DA and FPPC? Collins will lose his 995 hearing on Monday with Tony Lombardo's ex wife and then the fun filings begin. (If the hearing is not postponed for a 4th time) I hope Calcagno and Potter have a Merry Christmas, 2014 is not going to be pretty.

I'm not able to work up sympathy for Weeks, even the lowliest gov't employee takes training in Conflict of Interest, and it is very very simple. It's akin to FORA Exec Dir Houlemard expecting that his traffic ticket and fine should be paid by taxpayers, inc. Drivers Ed, and then firing the FORA accountant for bad advice. Really? We should get more for our money. At the sum these cross-pollinating leeches are paid there should be a soupçon of common sense required. A lowly civil servant would be fired on the spot.

I, too, say welcome to the debate, Smashing1..So good to have others participate...I knew from the beginning that the gift of polluted runoff from the farmers was no gift at all...DDT, arsenic, pesticides, you name it...The cost to even try to clean it up prohibitive..And who feels comfortable drinking sewer water???
Thanks for the tip on having nine attorneys for a 1090 (I erred on the number)..Poor Collins...If only he had known how many of those goofys he needed to back up his "No Conflict" statement.
Now, Smashing1, as to your statement, "Waving his hands and gesticulating wildly,"perhaps, yes, but I would say that he hasn't had a chance in ANY kind of legal forum..Try putting yourself in his shoes with 41 (in my opinion unwarranted) felonies on your shoulders for three years and you would wave your arms around, too.

Welcome to the debate Smashing1, although I must warn you, Granny and I will only tolerate facts in our discussions. Everyone knows Unicorns were made extinct by drinking the arsenic filled sludge in the water source the Pollution Control Agency wants we mere mortals to believe is safe for us to process and drink. Too hell with all the scientific studies that say DDT and other such tasty goodies can not be effectively removed, the Unicorns learned, to their own disaster, the truth.
I do, however, agree with your hypothesis, the DA is going to have to prosecute someone, you can not spend $4M of general fund money and walk away empty-handed. The Board has insulated themselves, and infected the FPPC with Pernicious Irvgrantitis, so the only mythical creatures left to blame (can't be Potter, he is innocent of everything in his life) are senior staff. At this point Weeks is a given, but the pesky County Counsel seems to have spread malaise and fairy dust into the eyes of the BOS, and they simply can not see his e-mails and phone records discussing Collins 1090 issues are relevant.
Granny, see above regarding attorneys. According to records filed by Make Lawrence (facts are such troublesome things) no less than 8 attorneys weighed in on Collins GC1090 issues and not one thought he had a problem. According to my son there was Collins problem, it takes 9 lawyers to change a light bulb or ratify an opinion.

Hi oldguy49...Well here I go again...I have signed a good many 720s in my time and the one thing that is required by the FPPC is, when in doubt, ask you legal council if you feel there is a "conflict of interest"...According to Collins, from the very beginning of this mess, at a MCWRA Board meeting that is exactly what he asked of Irv Grant Asst County Council, who (who has since devoloped CRS), who replied in open meeting, tape recorded, "No, you do not have a conflict of interest..."What more does the FPPC expect???? But not only that, he went so far as to get the opinion of several other attorneys... No conflict of interest..Good grief, how many do you need to dance the dance??? The FPPC should have immediately issued a ruling in his favor Too many politics involved here, I think, even for them...

So am I to understand that we will start prosecuting the unicorns responsible for this debacle? Because if there was no wrongdoing on the part of any of the board members --even with Mr. Collins waving his hands and gesticulating wildly in order to tell us EXACTLY who knew what, who did what and when they did it -- it must have been unicorns. Let's hope the unicorns don't have the kind of bank roll that bought this verdict.

As usual, you are right Granny. A couple of thoughts, the FPPC website touts their success in achieving $20M in fines collected over time. They have been around since 1975, roughly 38 years. They have an annual budget of approximately $30M. By my rough math that is $1.140B spent to collect $20M dollars. Only in Govt is that a sound investment. I would welcome someone challenging my numbers.
The Herald took my post down taking Hennessey to task for editorializing her article and not just printing the facts. Not only was it a bad article, but I guess they are touchy to criticism. The article yesterday on Weeks was the number 1 e-mailed article whereas the FPPC article was 91st. I guess the public did not pay much attention anyway.
It will be interesting to see if the Weekly runs an article this week on that poor hapless Mr. Weeks. This guy is in a lot of trouble and he probably trusted the County BOS. That was his, as well as Collins, first mistake. Potter and Calcagno will be in full damage control this next week, it will be interesting to see how long it takes the County to throw Weeks under the bus. I can just see it now, WE (the BOS) had no idea Weeks was lying to us...........

Hi, oldguy49...As usual, the Herald got it wrong...Thanks, Sara for the right take on it...It has always been my belief that the FPPC is nothing more than a ""Paper Tiger", and the only people they seem to stick it to is the poor person who goofs inadvertently in some small way and they slap them with a lousy fine..It's my understanding they asked the DA to investigate after being given a lot of verifiable information on all the individuals, and it would be a cold day in he.. if that office ever found anything wrong in a report back to the FPPC...What do you think Oldguy49????

Very well reported, Sara, factual and direct from the letters written by the FPPC. No editorializing, unlike the Herald this morning. I applaud you for simply reporting the facts.