Conflict of interest

There are some quotes in the article around the Police Activities League, including a quote from Councilman Eric Rodriguez defending PAL: “PAL is part of the solution, not the problem,” he claimed.

Important context that is missing from the article, however, is that Mr. Rodriguez literally sits on the board of PAL, which he acknowledged during his remarks. So while he sits on the board of PAL, a nonprofit, Mr. Rodriguez simultaneously voted in his role on the City Council to spend public money on staffing and supervising PAL (Early on in the discussions around PAL funding, city staff claimed all public money is reimbursed by PAL, but they later corrected that statement and made it clear that the city budget pays for PAL staff that is not reimbursed by PAL).

Mr. Rodriguez has a clear and obvious conflict of interest on this matter. He should have recused himself from the budget vote, resigned from PAL or his seat on City Council. It’s outrageous that neither he nor other councilmembers raised this issue during Monday’s meeting. Public commenters were prevented from responding because Mr. Rodriguez’s remarks came after public comment had closed on the matter.

Chet Lexvold

San Mateo