Silencing of Limbaugh Arouses Roar of Protest

Call it Rushgate.

Many state lawmakers love filling time between committee hearings and lunching with lobbyists by listening to right-wing radio commentator Rush Limbaugh on local radio station KFBK. Most tune in on the ubiquitous “squawk boxes” that sit atop the desks of legislators, staffers, lobbyists and journalists throughout the Capitol and environs.

All those fans of Limbaugh were in a tizzy this week when they discovered that KFBK--and, hence, the almost omnipresent Rush--had been yanked from the Capitol’s internal broadcast system.

On Tuesday, Republicans were quick to find a culprit--Assemblyman John Burton, the liberal Democratic lawmaker from San Francisco whose Rules Committee controls the system’s airwaves. With the ideological tables suddenly turned, they roared about how their First Amendment rights had been violated by Democrats bent on censorship.

“It’s a perfect example of Lord Acton’s principle that power corrupts and that absolute power corrupts absolutely,” complained Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach). “It’s not enough that Democrats outnumber us almost two to one and take away money from our staffs, now they want to censor what can be heard in the Capitol.”

Burton, meanwhile, was clearly irked by the whole affair.

“This is like one of Rush’s programs--a lot of brouhaha over n-o-t-h-i-n-g,” he said. “It’s wonderful to see conservatives in the Legislature finally supporting free speech after all these years.”

There never were any orders to pull Limbaugh off the air, Burton said. Instead, his edict was simply for music to replace talk-show programs like Limbaugh’s in “common areas” such as Capitol elevators and hallways. Limbaugh and other talk radio programs were supposed to remain available for private enjoyment on squawk boxes in legislators’ offices.

“If he was completely off, that wasn’t anyone’s intention,” Burton said. “The intention was he should be off in the common area that floods everyone’s eardrums.”

Limbaugh, who began his radio career in Sacramento, got wind of his banishment from California’s seat of government and complained long and loud during his Tuesday morning broadcast, which is heard daily by more than 10 million people across the United States. Soon, phone calls began pouring into the Capitol from ardent and irked Rush-o-holics whipped into a frenzy out in radioland.

Amid the uproar, the Limbaugh show was quickly returned to the state’s internal broadcast system before noon on Tuesday. But that concession did little to dim the passions of Republicans.

“It’s a sad commentary for a guy like John Burton, who probably exercises his First Amendment rights around here more than anyone, to censor what comes over the radio,” groused Assemblyman Dean Andal (R--Stockton).

Meanwhile, the imbroglio took on a bipartisan patina as Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) suggested that Burton had overstepped state rules if he did, indeed, have the program pulled.

“Mr. Burton doesn’t have the authority to order that, nor does anyone else,” Brown said. “ . . . Every person should be entitled to make their own decision as to what to listen to and there should be no editing.”

Even as the Capitol buzzed, a few lawmakers were wondering what the big fuss was.

“I think it’s a tempest in a teapot,” Assemblyman Ross Johnson (R-Fullerton) said. “Folks in my office are trying to work during the day, not listening to Rush Limbaugh. And I’m still trying to figure out why any radio station is broadcast on the internal system of the Capitol.”