Say what you will

The price of participating in government should not include losing the right to express an opinion. Mayors and city council members may expect their top political operatives to toe the party line, but it’s different -- or at least it ought to be -- for the citizen commissioners they appoint to oversee city operations. Those commissioners are selected for their devotion to civic affairs and are precisely the people who must be free to criticize the city, its government, its politicians, its employees, even each other.

That was true in the days when loose-cannon commissioners took to the local park or the radio to harangue the government. It’s no less true today, when they are more likely to put their thoughts on a blog and invite people to comment. So it’s alarming that some members of the Santa Ana City Council have told bloggers who sit on city boards and commissions to curb their online criticisms, as reported Monday by Times staff writer Jennifer Delson in the Orange County edition.

In the case of Art Pedroza, the commissioner shouldn’t be forced to choose between serving on the city’s Housing and Redevelopment Commission and airing his views of city government on orangejuiceblog.com, which he founded. If the councilwoman who appointed him -- perhaps in an effort to bring a critical gadfly into the fold -- regrets her decision, or is being pressured by her colleagues to shut him up, that’s too bad. There’s no point to having citizen commissions if politicians get to bounce their appointees for not being “team players.”

It’s easy to understand why elected officials might be unwilling to broaden the conversation about city affairs if, for example, bloggers they tap for some official position post reader comments that amount to little more than personal attacks or unsubstantiated rumors. And it’s easy to see why a politician might sweat even more if his or her appointee uses the blog to go off on a controversial tangent. Illegal immigration comes to mind, but take your pick -- anti-abortion blogging from an appointee of a pro-choice mayor, or anti-police diatribes from the appointee of a pro-cop councilman.

But if the blogging doesn’t conflict with the commission assignment, or subject the city to legal liability for, say, revealing privileged information, the elected officials just have to take their lumps. Free speech isn’t always pretty, but it’s a whole lot better than the alternatives.