Ain’t no cure for the summertime blues

• More than 15 people on Tuesday speaking up on Corpus’ behalf in an orchestrated political drone strike of the kind Corpus has been unable or incapable of mustering on her own, presumably funded at public expense.

• And, just to put a little more spin on the ball, the board began the meeting with testy squabbling, featuring sweeping and amusing rhetorical flourishes, over a regional transit tax measure that already is guaranteed to be on the ballot.

So, what did you do on your summer vacation?

The high-powered attorney is Tom Perez, former chair of the Democratic National Committee and hotshot insider for presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. He has been the public point man in a last-ditch effort to head off the upcoming public hearing on Corpus’ dismissal by the Board. The hearing starts on Monday.

In a letter sent to the board last week, Perez asked for an hour at Tuesday’s meeting to point out all the ways the supervisors are engaging in misconduct and civil rights violations. Board President David Canepa gave him 10 minutes, which appeared to unsettle Perez, assuming he was so ill-informed as to think he was actually going to get 60. Anyway, he took more than 12 and delivered a presentation that seemed disjointed and under-prepared.

To the extent his remarks had any focus, it was to denounce the long-ago assertion by retired Judge LaDoris Cordell that Corpus and the good doctor, Victor Aenlle, had an intimate personal relationship. Certainly, Corpus went to great lengths to create a special job for Aenlle, has defended him vociferously and even took pains to reappoint him to more than one position in the Sheriff’s Office. Who cares if their relationship was intimate? It certainly was special.

But this allegation is not even part of the record upon which Monday’s hearing is based, neither is it a factor in the Civil Grand Jury accusation that also could result in Corpus’ dismissal. The Cordell report had much more in it than the accusations of an affair, and everyone has moved on, except Perez, who just got here.

Perez said the board should pause its own process in favor of the Civil Grand Jury, “so the community can have a voice” in the decision to send Corpus on her way.

This hands me a laugh. The community voted 84% (90,900 votes) to authorize the board to do what it is doing. I guess you argue the facts as you have them.

Even before all this hoo-ha got underway, supervisors Ray Mueller and Jackie Speier asked Canepa to hold a study session on the regional transit tax measure. Mueller said he wanted to see if there could be a “better deal for San Mateo County.” Although various agencies already have approved the county’s participation in the tax revenue program, the legislation authorizing the ballot measure has yet to pass and is still subject to negotiations.

Speier was much less constrained. “It’s a disaster,” she said. “It’s taxation without representation, taxation without accountability.” She later added, “It is a bad deal for the taxpayers of San Mateo County,” and that the board should “do everything in our power to make sure it fails.” The ballot measure is likely a done deal, but there still could be a vote by the board to endorse the measure, a fairly standard campaign practice. Or not.

Canepa and Supervisor Noelia Corzo, who serve on county and regional transit boards where they voted to support the tax measure, were unhappy. Canepa said, categorically, that the study session would not include a vote on the tax proposal.

Canepa said any vote by the board “would be ceremonial in nature.” This is interesting, given his demonstrated interest in ceremonial activities. Corzo said, “I don’t think it’s appropriate for us to undo what other leaders have done.” This is interesting given her history of questioning the status quo.

Still, it would be of significance if the board could get on the same page. Its ability to act with unity and purpose will surely be put to the test starting Monday at the Corpus hearing.