Cotati mayor asks for ethics probe - of his own actions

It was, at the least, unexpected. So when Cotati Mayor Robert Coleman-Senghor asked his council colleagues to investigate whether he had violated the city's code of ethics, his colleagues didn't at first respond.

"I'm serious," Coleman-Senghor said, asking city staff to "come up with all necessary documents" so the complaints against him could be placed on a future council agenda.

The mayor's motion - for which he struggled to find a second among his dumbfounded colleagues - surprised audience member Joyce Garcia too.

Garcia has appeared at Cotati City Council meetings for months to ask the council to address her and other residents' complaints that Coleman-Senghor behaved unethically during the 2009 recall campaign that ousted former Councilman George Barich.

She charges that Coleman-Senghor violated the city's ethics code by, among other actions, campaigning for Barich's recall, by verbally attacking her character at a council meeting, and by using ethnic slurs.

The council voted 4-1 to accept Coleman-Senghor's motion. Asked her vote, Councilwoman Pat Gilardi, after a pause, said "sure." Vice-Mayor Janet Orchard voted no.

Later, Garcia smoked a cigarette and gave Coleman-Senghor a big thumbs up.

"Kudos to him for that," she said. "I think I'm going to write him a letter tomorrow to say I appreciated that."