Did City Council member Jean Quan violating City of Oakland ethics laws by using her city website and email list to promote her campaign? Is it appropriate for her to use city-owned computers--and staff--to work on campaign promotion? This was one of the topics that was discussed at Tuesday's PEC meeting, at which a complaint that had been filed againat Quan was discussed.

The Oakland Public Ethics Commission is stepping into the campaign contribution fray - Monday night, it voted to open an investigation into the campaign contributions of two security firms connected to the contract bid at City Hall.