Cash-strapped Oakland has spent nearly $1 million and counting on outside lawyers to defend the city's decision to fire former City Administrator Deborah Edgerly and her top assistant, Cheryl Thompson.

Edgerly and Thompson were both fired in 2008 by then-Mayor Ron Dellums after Edgerly was accused of warning her nephew William Lovan, a convicted felon who worked for the city as a parking meter repairman, of a planned police gang sweep.

Lovan resigned from the city last September after his arrest for drug possession. At the time, he was on home detention for a gun conviction - and soon after was sentenced to 16 months in state prison for violating parole.

Edgerly and Thompson were both at-will employees and served at the mayor's pleasure, so they could be fired without cause.

The two fought back, however, filing separate lawsuits claiming sex discrimination. They also claimed that the real reason they had been shown the door was their refusal to go along with Dellums' use of city money to pay for a new office for his wife, who was acting as a City Hall adviser, and for refusing to use city money to pay for a trip Dellums took to South Africa a year after he took office.

Thompson also claimed that Edgerly had promised her a severance package when she signed on as her $216,000-a-year assistant.

The San Francisco law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, which was brought in to defend the city, has so far billed Oakland $571,000 in Thompson's case and $368,000 in Edgerly's - at an average of $400 an hour.

City Attorney Barbara Parker felt the city could win both cases. But a majority of the City Council decided last week that it was time to cut its losses and pay Thompson $500,000 to go away.

Edgerly's case is still outstanding.

Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente - who was joined only by colleague Jane Brunner in opposing Thompson's settlement - called the deal "unacceptable and irresponsible," one that would open the door to future lawsuits by disgruntled or terminated employees.

"To date, we have spent more than half a million dollars on outside legal fees defending this case," countered Councilwoman Desley Brooks, who supported the settlement. "It was anticipated that we would spend at least a half a million dollars more to continue the litigation."

Brooks said the city had a chance to settle Thompson's suit early on for less than $100,000, but said former City Attorney John Russo hadn't told the council.

"Mr. Russo stated in the media that he would never settle Ms. Thompson's case, and as a result he cost the city $1 million," Brooks said.

Russo, now Alameda's city manager, says Brooks had her own reasons for wanting the case settled.

"Since Deborah and Cheryl filed their bogus lawsuits, Desley has been strongly advocating to pay them off because she owed them," Russo said - a reference to his contention that the two looked the other way on questionable payroll matters involving Brooks' office.

Brooks, however, points out that it was fellow Councilwomen Rebecca Kaplan and Pat Kernighan who made the motions to settle the Thompson suit.

By the way, Edgerly's suit is scheduled for trial next month. Among those on the former city administrator's witness list is Dellums and another ex-mayor, who hired her for the job - Gov. Jerry Brown.

Lee's air force: After weeks of being pounded on TV by rivals Leland Yee and Dennis Herrera, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee - and his well-heeled friends - are firing back.

Lee's spot, which began airing Friday, takes Yee and Herrera to task for using public dollars to hammer the mayor in their ads.

Lee is not accepting public financing, but he is benefiting from a big-time cable TV buy by investor Ron Conway and Salesforce chairman Marc Benioff.

Their 30-second spot, which begins airing today, touts Lee's background and achievements - from attracting jobs to balancing the city's budget - and comes just days before voters start receiving mail-in ballots.

The ad was produced by AKPD Message and Media, the same team that made spots for President Obama's2008 campaign.

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