Mayor Eases His Stance Toward City Hall Gadflies

Mayor Robert G. Cormack did little to prevent City Hall critics from videotaping this week’s City Council meeting from an aisle, or from clapping loudly, both violations of a new city law.

And he was unusually calm when they blasted him for his role in the arrest of gadfly Stanley Wantuch last November after city officials claimed Wantuch disrupted a council meeting.

Tuesday’s council meeting was the first since May 26 when a Municipal Court jury found Wantuch innocent of disrupting council meetings and obstructing a police officer.

Afterward, the judge criticized Cormack for depriving Wantuch of his freedom to speak and called the arrest unlawful and unconstitutional.

May Have Critics Removed

But Cormack denied that the outcome of the case had kept him from ejecting critics Tuesday night as he did Wantuch last November. Cormack said he may have the critics removed at future meetings if they continue to violate the Municipal Code.

“What I did (last November) was perfectly proper,” Cormack said.

A handful of City Hall critics from Downey, Bell Gardens, Paramount, Norwalk and Monterey Park attended the council meeting. Several took the podium to allege that Cormack and the other council members have attempted to silence opponents.

“I was on trial by you,” Wantuch, 22, of Bell Gardens told the council. “When the jury came back, they found that I was innocent and you were guilty.”

City Hall critic Lennie Whittington of Downey read portions of a statement released by Judge Norris M. Goodwin, who presided over the Wantuch trial. In an interview earlier this week, Goodwin said he was prepared to read the statement and reverse the jury if it had reached a guilty verdict.

Ejected in October

Wantuch was initially ejected from a council meeting in October after he failed to obey Cormack’s order to be seated while videotaping. At the next meeting in November, Wantuch began talking about the ejection and the restrictions of the then-proposed ordinance on meeting rules.

Cormack ruled that he was digressing and ordered him to be seated. Wantuch refused and was carried bodily out of the room by Downey police and arrested.

“The mayor as the presiding officer assumed authoritarian control of the public in attendance and under the guise of ‘presiding’ has concluded that any disobedience of his command constitutes a ‘disruption’ of his meetings,” the judge wrote. “The mayor unconstitutionally prevented the defendant from exercising his right to freedom of speech and the arrest which ensued (was) unlawful.”

The judge also criticized Councilwoman Diane P. Boggs for calling on police to arrest Wantuch last November, a decision that should be made by officers. Police Chief Pete Stone has said, that despite Boggs’ request, officers made the decision to arrest Wantuch.

“The judge wasn’t here that night,” Boggs said in defense of her call for Wantuch’s arrest. She said she might be forced to make a citizen’s arrest in the future, if “I see a need to protect the people’s meeting.”

Goodwin said his statement only concerned the way Wantuch was treated and not the ordinance approved by the council last year.

Limit on Speakers

The ordinance prohibits demonstrations, including clapping, placards and posters in council chambers. It also requires, in most cases, that anyone videotaping be seated or positioned at the back of the council chambers. The ordinance also locked into law the five-minute limit on speakers that previously was city policy.

Al Wantuch, Stanley’s father and an activist from Bell Gardens, told the council this week, that the ordinance was unduly restrictive and it was “creating a postion where you’ll be sued.”

But Cormack defended the ordinance as necessary to prevent anyone from disrupting council meetings.

At this week’s meeting, Cormack thanked the critics after they finished attacking him and the council. On several occasions, he told the critics and news photographers not to shoot from the aisles. But he took no further action when his advice was ignored.

Several Downey residents praised the council and denounced the critics.

“I think it’s a disgrace that we have to put up with the discourteous disruption of a business meeting,” said Doris Patterson, a Downey resident and president-elect of the Downey Chamber of Commerce.