{"id":122,"date":"2009-02-10T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-02-10T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/terragrafix.com\/blog\/?p=122"},"modified":"2009-02-10T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-02-10T06:00:00","slug":"vice-mayor-ken-bukowski-dodges-censure-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/?p=122","title":{"rendered":"Vice Mayor Ken Bukowski Dodges Censure Vote"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a onblur=\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_Gz0hhePBpLU\/SZEYoLOM1-I\/AAAAAAAAAME\/n53yMkLkHjc\/s1600-h\/70b1_fulldisclosure1_1_jpg-story-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 110px; height: 152px;\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_Gz0hhePBpLU\/SZEYoLOM1-I\/AAAAAAAAAME\/n53yMkLkHjc\/s320\/70b1_fulldisclosure1_1_jpg-story-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301045314877970402\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><span style=\";font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;\"  ><\/p>\n<p><a onblur=\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_Gz0hhePBpLU\/SZEYSFr3RMI\/AAAAAAAAAL0\/sWT2SbG1ync\/s1600-h\/ruthatkin-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 96px; height: 141px;\" src=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_Gz0hhePBpLU\/SZEYSFr3RMI\/AAAAAAAAAL0\/sWT2SbG1ync\/s320\/ruthatkin-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301044935434650818\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"><span style=\"font-size:180%;\">Bukowski Brings &#8220;Disrepute&#8221; to City,<br \/>Says Council Member Ruth Atkin<\/span><br \/><\/span><\/span><span style=\";font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;\"  ><br \/>by Marc Albert and Tracy Schroth<\/p>\n<p>A resolution aimed at censuring embattled Vice Mayor Ken Bukowski ended up going nowhere when Council Member Ruth Atkin withdrew the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ci.emeryville.ca.us\/gov\/pdf\/agenda\/council\/012009ccVIIB.pdf\">resolution<\/a> she had introduced at the City Council&#8217;s Jan. 20 meeting. The strongly worded resolution criticized Bukowski for bringing &#8220;disrepute&#8221; on the city in general and the City Council in particular.<\/span><span style=\"border-bottom: medium none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;\" class=\"yshortcuts\" id=\"lw_1234149146_9\"  > The censure sought to publicly condemn Bukowski&#8217;s actions and invite &#8220;the reaffirmation of his oath of office and commitment to govern his activities as an elected official &#8230; in full compliance with &#8230; all laws of the State of California and the City of Emeryville.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><\/span><span style=\";font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;\"  >Atkin&#8217;s resolution offered up a laundry list of recent offenses by Bukowski, including:<\/span><span style=\";font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;\"  ><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<ul  style=\"font-family:times new roman;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-size:130%;\">Failure to pay business license tax on his Doyle Street rental property.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:130%;\">Disclosure to the public of confidential closed-session items discussed by the City Council. There is speculation that the disclosure had to do with the firing of a city staffer who alleged that the firing was racially motivated. Bukowski sided with the employee, publicly criticizing the handling of the case by then City Manager John Flores and City Attorney Mike Biddle. The city ultimately settled the case for $3.6 million.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"border-bottom: medium none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;font-size:130%;\" class=\"yshortcuts\" id=\"lw_1234149146_9\" >Failure to file the necessary campaign finance reports between October 2003 and 2006, &#8220;despite repeated reminders and requests from the City Clerk\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Office and referral to the Fair Political Practices Commission.&#8221; Bukowski has since been fined by the Fair Political Practices Commission, according to the resolution.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"border-bottom: medium none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;font-size:130%;\" class=\"yshortcuts\" id=\"lw_1234149146_9\" >Soliciting and obtaining personal loans from individuals that exceed limits and terms set by the Political Reform Act and not repaying at least one of those loans. It was disclosed at a public meeting several months ago that Bukowski received a loan from Emeryville developer Francis Collins.<br \/><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:130%;\">Entering into a consulting contract with Paxio, Inc., an <\/span><span class=\"yshortcuts\" id=\"lw_1234149146_8\"  style=\"font-size:130%;\">Internet service provider that also has a contract with the city to supply services, and failing to disclose that consulting agreement to his fellow City Council members.<br \/><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"yshortcuts\" id=\"lw_1234149146_8\"  style=\"font-size:130%;\">Participating in and influencing decisions of the City Council regarding Paxio while on Paxio&#8217;s payroll.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\";font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;\"  >Bukowski has &#8220;<\/span><span style=\"border-bottom: medium none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;\" class=\"yshortcuts\" id=\"lw_1234149146_9\"  >flouted and violated the law governing his activities as a local business owner and as a member of the office of the City Council <\/span><span style=\";font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;\"  >on several occasions,&#8221; the resolution said, noting that &#8220;these violations are not limited to an isolated incident and have brought disrepute to the City of Emeryville&#8221; and the City Council. The resolution went on to say that the Council has &#8220;grown weary of Council Member Bukowski&#8217;s pattern of violating the law, followed by promises of reform once violations have been publicly exposed, and thereafter followed by further violations after some period of relatively &#8216;good behavior&#8217; &#8230; &#8220;<\/p>\n<p><\/span><span style=\";font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;\"  >But after about 20 minutes of discussion at the Council&#8217;s Jan. 20 meeting &#8212; during which Council Member Nora Davis accused <\/span><span style=\";font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;\" class=\"yshortcuts\" id=\"lw_1234149146_14\"  >Atkin<\/span><span style=\";font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;\"  > of introducing a &#8220;self-serving&#8221; resolution &#8212; Atkin withdrew the resolution, preventing a vote.<\/p>\n<p>Bukowski declined to comment for this story.<\/p>\n<p>As readers of <\/span><span style=\"font-style: italic;font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;\"  >The Secret News <\/span><span style=\";font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;\"  >know, Bukowski is no stranger to controversy. In addition to the offenses listed above, he <\/span><span style=\";font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;\"  >recently fell behind on his property taxes for one of the two structures on his Doyle Street property to the tune of $1,719.56<\/span><span style=\";font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;\"  ><span style=\"font-family:times new roman;\">. In addition, despite repeated notices from the city for health code violations at that same property, Bukowski failed to clean it up, ultimately requiring the city to do so (at taxpayer&#8217;s expense).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family:times new roman;\">Finally, the Vice-Mayor is being sued by the widow of Michael Smela, a Novartis security guard and former San Francisco police officer, who was struck and killed by Bukowski&#8217;s vehicle minutes after Bukowski drove away from a community meeting at the Novartis complex on Hollis Street alittle more than a year ago. That suit is pending.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0;float:none;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thesecretnewsonline.com%2F%3Fp%3D122\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"true\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bukowski Brings &#8220;Disrepute&#8221; to City,Says Council Member Ruth Atkinby Marc Albert and Tracy Schroth A resolution aimed at censuring embattled Vice Mayor Ken Bukowski ended up going nowhere when Council Member Ruth Atkin withdrew the resolution she had introduced at &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/?p=122\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}