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San Jose mayor's office urged taxi driver to submit letter to newspaper
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_28791636/san-jose-mayors-office-urged-taxi-driver-to-submit-letter-to-newspaperAmid growing political tension over Mayor Sam Liccardo's push to fingerprint Uber and Lyft drivers at San Jose's airport, the mayor's office sent a strongly-worded letter to a taxicab driver to submit to this newspaper as his own.
Shakur Buni promptly complied, attaching his name and sending the letter from his personal email address two days later as if it were his own....
"It leaves the public in the dark about the true author of the letter," said Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School and president of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission. "I don't think it looks good for the mayor. It looks like he is strong-arming drivers into doing his public relations work for him."
The letter was attached to a July 22 email sent from Liccardo's policy aide, Katie Scally, to Buni six days after this newspaper published an opinion piece opposing the mayor's position on fingerprinting the taxi companies' competitors. The opinion piece, written by Orson Aguilar, argued that fingerprinting ride-booking company drivers, who the taxi companies say should face background-checking like the cab drivers, would hurt minorities and disadvantaged communities.
Shakur Buni promptly complied, attaching his name and sending the letter from his personal email address two days later as if it were his own....
"It leaves the public in the dark about the true author of the letter," said Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School and president of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission. "I don't think it looks good for the mayor. It looks like he is strong-arming drivers into doing his public relations work for him."
The letter was attached to a July 22 email sent from Liccardo's policy aide, Katie Scally, to Buni six days after this newspaper published an opinion piece opposing the mayor's position on fingerprinting the taxi companies' competitors. The opinion piece, written by Orson Aguilar, argued that fingerprinting ride-booking company drivers, who the taxi companies say should face background-checking like the cab drivers, would hurt minorities and disadvantaged communities.
