Ron Dellums, who dropped from the radar screen for long stretches as Oakland’s former mayor, is a Washington lobbyist these days, but he made a Bay Area appearance (in Hayward) yesterday to testify against former city administrator Deborah Edgerly. She was let go after being accused of tipping her nephew to an impending police raid on gang members. Now she’s suing the city, claiming age discrimination. Dellums, on the witness stand, called that claim “bizarre in the extreme,” the Chronicle says.
Add: The case is costing Oakland taxpayers more than $1 million in legal fees and other costs, but apparently city officials are still sensitive about shelling out $500,000 to settle a wrongful-termination claim by Edgerly’s former assistant.
Noted: Matier & Ross say Dellums got emotional at one point while testifying and was handed a box of tissue.
