Oakland Mayor's Top Legal Adviser Resigns Over Raid

By Matthai Kuruvila, San Francisco Chronicle

15 November 11

akland Mayor Jean Quan's chief legal adviser, a longtime friend, resigned Monday after what he called a "tragically unnecessary" police raid of the Occupy Oakland camp.

Dan Siegel was one of two aides to defect from Quan's administration Monday. Deputy Mayor Sharon Cornu also quit but said her resignation had nothing to do with the police sweep.

Siegel, a civil rights attorney and one of Oakland's most active and vocal police critics, said the city should have done more to work with campers before sending in police.

"The city sent police to evict this camp, arrest people and potentially hurt them," Siegel said. "Obviously, we're not on the same page. It's an amazing show of force to move tents from a public place."

Siegel strongly opposed any plan by the city to take down the month-old camp in the days leading up to the police raid.

Quan, who has known Siegel since the two attended UC Berkeley together, said at a news conference that they have been known to disagree. She said Siegel, an unpaid adviser, had been working on "a small project on a volunteer basis in my office."

"He's moving on. I'm moving on," Quan said.

Unlike Siegel, Cornu said Quan had done the right thing in approving the police sweep of Occupy Oakland.

"The situation on the plaza was untenable," said Cornu, 52.

Cornu, previously a labor leader, was one of two deputy mayors, making her in essence a co-chief of staff. She said she had stepped down voluntarily to strengthen Quan's staff organization.

Occupy Oakland, she said, "is a very difficult situation. The phrase 'between a rock and a hard place' doesn't start to explain it. Anybody who's looking for a rainbow ending on it is mistaken."