On Local Government: It’s the job you chose
It’s the job you chose.
The Mayor of Baldwin Park, a city of about 75,000 people in the San Gabriel Valley, has a problem with a gadfly. A BIG problem that he wants settled by the court.
His problem, according to an article published in the LA Times earlier this week, is that a particular gadfly, Paul Cook, a 32 year old graduate of UCLA law school, keeps getting on his case to the point where he feels his privacy is being invaded.
It all seems to have started with a city-sponsored boxing club whose coach was fired for being a whistleblower on an alleged financial abuse of city funds. Cook, who started a blog called The Legal Lens, used this medium to highlight the case and his alleging of the club’s financial issues which ultimately led him to the Mayor.
While I have no idea who is right on this issue, the point of American democracy is to allow the public to question the government in whatever form existed in that era. During the early history of our country, it was the pamphlet that was used to criticize. Now it is social media.
It is part of the deal, Mayor. Get over it.
I recall the epic battle between Redondo Beach Mayor Brad Parton and the most flamboyant gadfly of our day, Chris Boyle. Chris was relentless in his criticism of the Mayor, including bringing “audio visual” aids to the meetings.
Sitting next to Brad on the dais, I could tell from the moment Chris would approach the podium that the Mayor’s body was getting tighter and tighter. I used to lean over and tell him that he could “stand anything for three minutes.” Sadly, many times he couldn’t and he played directly in Chris’ hand by arguing with him. In a few cases, Brad asked the police to remove him from the meeting, which is for the most part against the law. (There a few extreme exceptions.)
When you get elected to public office, even in the jobs we chose where it is, for the most part, a volunteer job, you have opened yourself to the public. And, while you could say that it is wrong on the gadfly’s part to be “such a pest,” as one of my colleagues called Chris, it is also wrong on the elected’s part to try to stop them summarily.
You chose the job and you chose the things that come along with it.
Should city meetings be more civil? Of course. But when you are dealing with issues like those in Baldwin Park, the sunshine of open disclosure would be best for everyone. If the Mayor is right, the gadfly will go away, discredited.
When the people don’t watch and ask the difficult questions, you can get Bell, the city that ended up paying millions of dollars in fees and fines to support a completely corrupt administration.
Which do you prefer?