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In
January 2001, the City of Oakland’s first elected
City Attorney, John A. Russo, appointed Mark T. Morodomi
as Supervising Deputy City Attorney. In that role, Mr.
Morodomi supervises the deputies of the General Government
and Finance Unit. The Unit advises the City on law relating
to public art, museums, parks and recreation, libraries,
health and human services, bonds, tax, and telecommunications.
He also is the office’s specialist on all ethics,
campaign reform, redistricting, and open government
matters.
Prior to joining
the City Attorney, Mr. Morodomi was in Washington, D.C.
serving as Policy Advisor to Under Secretary of the
Treasury. The Under Secretary oversaw the Secret Service,
U.S. Customs Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms (ATF), and the IRS-Criminal Investigations
Division. Mr. Morodomi specialized in strategies to
combat international drug money laundering and represented
the United States at the Black Market Peso Exchange
Multilateral Experts Meeting in Aruba, South America.
Prior to his work
in Washington, Mr. Morodomi was Acting Chief of Enforcement
and Senior Enforcement Counsel of the State of California
FPPC (Fair Political Practices Commission). Serving
ten years (1990-2000), he was responsible for some of
the agency’s most sensitive corruption and ethics
investigations. In 2000, he wrote the prevailing argument
in the California Supreme Court case, People v. Snyder,
eliminating a loophole used by lobbyists to avoid criminal
prosecution. In 1997, he traveled to La Paz, Bolivia,
to advise the Bolivian government on the implementation
of that county’s newly enacted campaign finance
law. In 1995, he successfully prosecuted the Evergreen
America Corporation for campaign money laundering and
won the largest civil election law fine at the time
in the nation. In 1992, he was principal drafter of
the revisions of the state’s ethics regulations
on honoraria and gifts to public officials.
In 1995, because
of his professional and community accomplishments, the
American Bar Association’s Barrister Magazine
honored Mr. Morodomi as one of the "21 Young Lawyers
Leading Us Into the 21st Century.”
As a volunteer,
Mr. Morodomi has also used his legal skills on behalf
of local communities. Through his work with the Asian
Law Caucus, he provided free legal help to victims of
the Loma Prieta earthquake and defended the constitutional
rights of interned Japanese-Americans. He has been president
of the Asian Bar Association of Sacramento, president
of the Japanese American Citizens League, Florin Chapter
(a civil rights organization), and a governor on the
national board of the national Asian Pacific American
lawyers association.
A second-degree
black belt, he has taught karate at the University of
California, Davis.
Mr. Morodomi graduated
from the New York University School of Law in 1985.
He graduated from Stanford University in 1982 where
he was team captain of the Stanford Karate Association.
Mr. Morodomi has published articles on
California hate crime laws and the Bolivian electoral
system. He has also appeared on PBS, commenting on community
efforts to combat hate crimes.
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