Let the Punishment Fit the Crime

William Tut Hayes, an outspoken gadfly, is in jail serving a 155-day sentence for his refusal to abide by the rules during public meetings of the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency. It isn’t the first time the aggressive and unyielding Hayes has spoken for much, much longer than the 3-minute limit. It isn’t the first time he has disrupted a meeting, but the punishment should fit the crime.

Hayes is no ordinary gadfly. In a dispute over relocation that has gone on for years, he has angrily refused to relinquish the microphone, has read out loud for an hour and has refused to leave when the room was cleared.

After repeated warnings, CRA chairman James Wood made a citizen’s arrest. Hayes was convicted of creating a public disturbance and placed on probation. His subsequent outburst, which included throwing an audiocassette tape on an unrelated subject at a CRA commissioner, prompted the revocation of probation and the long jail sentence.

Unlike other public bodies, the CRA has no police officer assigned to keep order, despite a willingness to budget the expense. At City Council meetings, an officer silences unruly gadflies or escorts them from chambers. Arrests are rare; veterans can recall one, that of a nude streaker a decade ago.

An officer may soon do the same for the CRA. Mayor Tom Bradley intervened Tuesday to make sure that the redevelopment agency can hire an off-duty, uniformed officer to keep order atpublic meetings. In exchange, Wood, the CRA chairman, will recommend that the judge release Hayes.

Gadflies can be annoying, but the self-appointed watchdogs have every right to express their opinions at public meetings. Their rights don’t include preventing other business. But there’s got to be a way to conduct public business and to run an orderly meeting without resorting to citizen’s arrests, criminal prosecutions and sentences in overcrowded jails.