Oakland City Council Rejects Police Commission Nominees | KQED

Oakland’s Police Commission went back to the drawing board on Tuesday after the City Council rejected two nominees to the law enforcement watchdog group over conflict of interest concerns. Thanks to an obscure line of code in the city charter, the candidates — former Oakland Mayor Jean Quan and former Deputy Public Defender Nicholas O’Brien-Kovari — are required to be forwarded to the City Council together as a batch. The slate ran aground when O’Brien-Kovari, who currently works for a private law firm and is involved in active litigation against the city, asked the city attorney’s office on Monday for clarification on whether that might make him ineligible for the commission, according to a letter reviewed by KQED. On Tuesday morning, O’Brien-Kovari said he was offered the opportunity to move forward, with staff confirming the City Attorney had not yet taken a position on any potential conflict without a thorough analysis.

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