Courtesy The Island of Alameda

Tam said the accusations are a result of questions she raised publicly about a bond deal proposed by Interim City Manager

Alameda City Council member Lena Tam has been in the hot seat since an outside attorney hired by the city accused Tam of leaking confidential information to outside agencies. Now one of those agencies, the firefighters' union, is saying it already possessed much of the information that Tam is accused of leaking to them.

Earlier this month, Michael G. Colantuono was hired by Interim City Manager Ann Marie Gallant and City Attorney Teresa Highsmith to investigate whether Tam had violated the Brown Act, which mandates that public officials' “actions be taken openly and that their deliberations be conducted openly.” The law is intended to discourage backroom dealings by lawmakers.

In addition to leaking confidential information to developer SunCal, which is in exclusive negotiations to develop Alameda Point, Tam is accused of leaking e-mails to the political director of the city’s firefighters' union, Jeff DelBono.

In recent years, the city of Alameda has had a contentious relationship with its firefighters, as the municipality looks for ways to cut costs. As a result, the firefighters' union sued the city for reducing benefits for new hires. Recently, firefighters were miffed that the city didn’t put a measure on the November ballot that would require the city to maintain minimum staffing levels. The ballot measure will be up for a vote next year.

One of the cost-saving measures the city considered was to outsource its ambulance service to Alameda County. But the ambulance company that ultimately won the county contract said the city of Alameda would be better served by maintaining its own ambulance fleet.

However, as the debate over outsourcing ambulance services raged, Colantuono accused Tam of trying to scuttle any plan to contract out the city’s ambulance service. The attorney said Tam bcc'd local firefighters in e-mails that mentioned confidential information about meetings that two ambulance companies had with local unions and the city’s fire chief.

Colantuono also accused Tam of forwarding a letter to firefighters from one of the ambulance companies, Paramedics Plus, which stated that it wouldn’t be cost-effective to provide service to the city of Alameda in local firefighters’ stead.

On Sunday, IAFF Local 689 President Domenick Weaver said that firefighters had obtained much of the information contained in Tam’s e-mail before she sent them.

Weaver released a trail of correspondence, including the e-mail from ambulance service company Paramedics Plus. Weaver and the union’s political director Jeff DelBono say the e-mails were sent before Tam’s e-mail containing the same information.

“At no time did Council Member Tam or ANY other council member ‘leak’ information to IAFF Local 689 on this topic, or any other,” Weaver wrote. “All information received was the result of official correspondence between IAFF Local 689 and the City of Alameda, through official public information requests to the Alameda County Emergency Medical Services Agency, and our own meetings with Paramedics Plus.”

Tam has denied the accusations, but neither she nor her attorneys would answer specific questions. Tam said the accusations were politically motivated and payback for questions she raised publicly about a bond deal proposed by Interim City Manager Gallant.

Colantuono sent his findings to the Alameda County District Attorney’s office, which hasn’t responded to requests for interviews about how it plans to proceed.