If you can spare a couple of hours on a wintry evening in spring, why not go have a “conversation” with Don Perata who’s running for mayor in November? That’s what I did last week.

The campaigns of Don Perata and Jean Quan, both 2010 Oakland mayoral candidates, were the subjects of two citizen complaints alleging violations of state laws at Monday’s Public Ethics Commission meeting at City Hall.

One complaint was dismissed and the other was deferred, but the March 1 discussion stretched late into the night.