A Bay Area Journalist's First-Hand Account Of How Mayor Jerry Brown Screwed Over Oakland On His Way To Sacramento
ON THE SUBJECT OF SHAME J. Douglas Allen-Taylor Item from a longer column: There is a great temptation to go into detail on the newly-revealed allegations about Barzaghi In Mexico, which is beginning to sound like the title of a pretty tawdry Roman Polanski film. But now that this whole affair seems destined to go to public airing at trial, I’m going to resist. There’s going to be more than enough press attention on this sad matter, soon enough. Up until now, we have been led to believe that the Mayor’s top aide’s actions toward a female staffer during that now-infamous Mexican Presidential Inauguration trip last year amounted to little more than "nibbling" her ear. But even taking into account lawyer hyperbole, the allegations against Barzaghi released last week by the woman’s attorney amount to much, much more: a pattern of threats and sexual intimidation by a powerful man against a junior female employee. So far, these are only unproven allegations. Both the female staffer and Barzaghi deserve their day in court, and a chance to prove themselves. But if the allegations are anywhere near true, it would be no wonder why top folks at the City wanted to keep quiet the details about the alleged "punishment" Barzaghi received (a couple of weeks’ suspension and some counseling, supposedly). Maybe they were ashamed.
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