Free Republic

<p>Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates pleaded guilty today to a petty theft infraction and was fined $100 for trashing 1,000 copies of the University of California, Berkeley campus newspaper that endorsed his opponent.</p> <p>Bates did not appear in Alameda County Superior Court. His attorney, Malcolm Burnstein, entered the plea on his behalf and paid the fine imposed by Commissioner Beverly Daniels-Greenberg.</p>