Excerpt:

City Attorney Teresa Highsmith said that a series of e-mails flagged by Mayor Beverly Johnson’s executive assistant were what started the city’s investigation into City Councilwoman Lena Tam.

“She saw a couple of e-mails (to the mayor) that concerned her and brought them to the City Manager’s attention, because it appeared there was serial meeting violation of the Brown Act,” Highsmith recalled when a reporter contacted her this week.

Since the e-mails were about Highsmith, she contacted Michael Colantuono, who the city has worked with for more than a decade. He reviewed the e-mails and was determined that “yes, you’ve got a problem there,” Highsmith said.