With the release of the Contra Costa County Grand Jury report on the City of Antioch, Councilmember Mike Barbanica called for both a criminal investigation and resignations.
Barbanica is urging Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe to resign, along with councilmembers Tamisha Torres-Walker and Monica Wilson due to Brown Act Violations.
With the release of the grand jury report, it confirmed what many believed had been occurring for a while. Secret meetings between the Mayor and two councilmembers– this included conversations of hiring/firing employees, while also holding discussions on how to redistrict city council districts–in which ultimately led to the redistricting Councilmember Lori Ogorchock out of her council seat and moving her into another District. The grand jury admitted they did not have evidence beyond a reasonable doubt, but do believe Brown Act Violations occurred.
“We have two independent, the District Attorney and the Civil Grand Jury, saying we believe this occurred. That’s the case, I am urging the Mayor and two councilmembers to step down and do the right thing. This is not the way cities are supposed to operate,” stated Barbanica. “This is supposed to be open to the public, fair, transparent. This is not transparency. Secondly, I am urging the District Attorney Diana Becton to reopen a criminal investigation and investigate this to the fullest extent of the law.”
The grand jury report also highlighted the need for the City of Antioch to hire an experienced city manager, address staffing levels while encouraging the mayor and city council to stop interjecting themselves into staff business.
In the 5-minute video:
“This report highlights violations that the grand jury believes occurred, including Brown Act Violation, but believes there is evidence that these occurred,” explained Barbanica. “Let me go back, last year the District Attorney’s Office got a report from somebody that said these Brown Act Violations were occurring and gave this information to the Contra Costa County DA’s office. A criminal investigation was conducted at that time and the results of the investigation were that the DA had serious concerns about these violations that possibly they occurred, but couldn’t prove it at that time beyond a reasonable doubt.”
He explained that because of that, it was sent to the Grand Jury for an investigation which said they believed the “secret meetings” were occurring at Mayor Hernandez-Thorpe’s house.
“With all three of those members, outside the view of the public and with no other councilmembers there and the public not having the ability to attend the meeting,” said Barbanica. “That is a secret meeting where people collude, essentially what the Brown Act is designed to guard against.”
Issues of concern include:
- Terminating an employee and hiring an outside attorney costing taxpayers $280,000
- Hiring Cornelius Johnson, a 3-2 vote with Barbanica and Ogorchock voting against
- Redistricting
“The DA’s office was concerned enough to believe there is something there, we just cant prove it beyond a reasonable doubt and they sent a letter off to the city, and referred it off to the grand jury for a secret investigation,” explained Barbanica.
He continued.
“We have two independent, District Attorney and Civil Grand Jury, saying we believe this occurred. That’s the case, I am urging the Mayor and two councilmembers to step down and do the right thing. This is not the way cities are supposed to operate,” stated Barbanica. “This is supposed to be open to the public, fair, transparent. This is not transparency. Secondly, I am urging the District Attorney Diana Becton to reopen a criminal investigation and investigate this to the fullest extent of the law.”
Barbanica admitted he knew there were prior relationships between Becton and members of the city council, but she could refer it over to the State Attorney General and have it investigated there.
“This has got to stop,” stated Barbanica. “Many of us have felt this was occurring for some time but now we have the DA’s office saying it might be as well, and we have the civil grand jury saying we think it might be as well. I urge them to probe further into this and find out if criminal acts did in fact happen. If they did, prosecute them. Again, I am urging all the members to do the right thing and just step down.”
He also called on the County Board of Supervisors to back him in this request.
Related:
- Contra Costa County Grand Jury Report – click here
- Grand Jury Finds Evidence Antioch City Council Committed Brown Act Violations
8 comments
Lol, this guy!!! He’s only speaking up now because he is running for office. He was a minion for years and he was afraid of LaThorpe, all the sudden he grew a sack?
I don’t have confidence in either Diane Becton or Rob Bonta to properly investigate this matter. Hopefully, the Mayor and two council members will voluntarily step down to avoid the expense of an investigation but somehow I don’t think they’ll go without a fight after voting themselves that fat raise while the City isxa disgusting mess. Wish Ron Bernal could just take over now as Mayor. Ron would be the one to hire and train a new City Manager since he was former City Manager until he retired.
Thank you Mike for trying to get something done so Antiovh has an ethical Mayor and City Council. The issues you have outlined are serious and action needs to be taken to ensure Brown Act Violations don’t happen. Antioch Citizens, APD, schools deserve better.
Oh wow! So surprising no one saw this coming! I can’t believe Lamar is a POS oh no I’m surprised…
Barbanica is part of the problem. He has no courage nor any intelligence on how to fix the problem. He has just been a lump on the log along with the rest of them. He should not be given any credit for making a video & calling for people to resign with the grand jury drawing attention to a problem that has been on going.
Barbanica should not be promoted to higher office with this BS going on.
Antioch, we need to do a clean sweep and get our city leadership overhauled. It is a crucial time.
Another Dolton Illinois, it’s just in a male form. Keep running the city into ground.
I wonder if Council Member Barbanica is aware that under the Bagley-Keene Act and the Brown Act, if a meeting of the body lacks a quorum, it does not constitute a meeting. If the two Council Members and Mayor did resign, it would effectively bring the governance of Antioch to a halt, including “Resolutions, orders for the payment of money, and all ordinances require a recorded majority vote of the total membership of the city council” (Government Code 36936).
I wonder how many council measures were shot down by these three voting as a block.
These three seem to vote as a block. That way they have full control of the council. It’s so wrong. The redistributing was the most telling of their BS.