SF ethics staff reduce fine for gay human rights commissioner

San Francisco Human Rights Commissioner Mark Kelleher.  

Photo: Drew Altizer Photography

A gay member of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission is now facing a substantially reduced fine from the city’s ethical watchdog agency after its staff determined upon further review that his voting on grants that had come under scrutiny led to “minimal public harm.” The Ethics Commission is scheduled to take up the matter at its meeting Friday.   Commissioner Mark Kelleher had agreed to pay a $2,500 fine to settle the matter, even though he felt such a penalty was rather high for a volunteer to have to pay for what were essentially clerical errors. Members of the Ethics Commission had disagreed, and in the spring, rejected the settlement agreement and instructed the agency’s staff to determine