Attorneys seeking to place the embattled Oakland Police Department under federal control

Attorneys seeking to place the embattled Oakland Police Department under federal control asked a Judge on Friday to require Mayor Jean Quan to show up for a deposition or face contempt of court charges.

Quan canceled her scheduled all-day deposition Thursday, citing the need to attend a special council meeting that lasted less than an hour, according to a motion filed by attorneys Jim Chanin and John Burris.

They want to depose Quan well before Oct. 4, when they are required to submit a brief in support of putting a federal receiver in control of the police department, which has failed to fully implement reforms required in a 2003 court order. U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson has scheduled hearings on receivership beginning in December.

Chief Howard Jordan and City Administrator Deanna Santana appeared for depositions in August, but Quan canceled her deposition two days before it was scheduled. Randolph Hall, an attorney for the city, wrote that the mayor wouldn’t be available again before Sept. 25 — less than 10 days before the brief had to be submitted.

Hall also refused to guarantee that Quan would appear on Sept. 25, spurring Chanin and Burris to ask Henderson to make the appearance mandatory.

“We waited two months for this, and we’re willing to work with her, but she has not been willing,” Chanin said.

Quan’s duties required her to attend Thursday’s special closed door council meeting, said her Chief of Staff Anne Campbell Washington. “The mayor has every intention of being cooperative with the plaintiffs’ attorneys and the need to schedule a deposition,” she said.

Mayor Quan has been embroiled in scandal after scandal since she landed in office.

Bay Area News Group