County Denies Use of Outlet to Simi Rally Sponsors

A simple request to slip an electrical cord into a socket outside a Simi Valley courthouse was short-circuited this week by the Ventura County bureaucracy.

Neighbors Against Nazis, an anti-bigotry coalition, sought permission to plug its sound system into an outdoor electrical outlet at the East County Courthouse during a rally this Saturday. The coalition agreed to pay for the power.

County Supervisor Vicky Howard, whose courthouse office received the request, didn’t know whether the outlet was out of bounds. She passed the plea on to the county’s legal staff.

On Wednesday, Jim McBride, the county’s chief attorney, said no. Loaning Saturday’s rally some courthouse juice might open a Pandora’s Box, he said.

If Neighbors Against Nazis plugs in, how could the county stop the Ku Klux Klan from doing the same, he asked. And if you let private groups borrow electricity, what do you say when they ask to use the courthouse toilets?

The attorney said the county cannot discriminate, so it rejects all such requests to use its buildings.

“One of the problems is that if you make it available to one group, then you have to make it available to everyone,” McBride said. “We don’t distinguish between an electrical outlet or access to bathrooms.”

The county did provide electrical hookups last year when news reporters converged on the courthouse to cover the Rodney G. King beating trial. McBride said the county does not impose the same policy on the news media that it does on private demonstrators.

His explanation did not satisfy Paige Moser, who helped found Neighbors Against Nazis to protest two Simi Valley appearances last year by Mississippi white supremacist Richard Barrett.

She pointed out that the county spent thousands of dollars to protect Barrett by sending sheriff’s deputies to help Simi Valley police with crowd control.

“We are asking for an expenditure of $5 to $10, even $25 worth of electricity, and we’re willing to pay for it,” Moser said. “We pay taxes to this county. We have a valid permit to use that area.

“It seems obstructive on their part to prevent us from using that electricity. As far as I can tell, there’s no difference between allowing television crews access to electricity and allowing it to citizens who live here.”

Moser said her group will have to rent a noisy gasoline-powered generator, which could make it difficult to hear speakers and musicians.

Ventura County’s policy is apparently a common one. Demonstrators who set up on the steps or lawn at Los Angeles City Hall cannot connect to the building’s utilities, said Vallee Bunting, Mayor Tom Bradley’s press secretary.

Demonstrators outside federal buildings must obtain a permit and generally cannot plug in to the electrical systems, said Mary Filippini, spokeswoman for the U. S. General Services Administration.

Ventura County’s outlet decision was the second bureaucratic blow endured this week by Neighbors Against Nazis.

On Monday, Mayor Greg Stratton announced that the city would not formally endorse the rally because of its political nature. “It did not appear to be focused primarily on anti-racism,” he said.

The speakers slated to appear between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. are expected to talk about abuse by police officers, homelessness, gay and lesbian rights, feminism and terrorism by white supremacists.

Among the scheduled speakers is Georgiana Williams, whose son was accused of beating truck driver Reginald Denny during last year’s Los Angeles riots.

Moser vowed Wednesday that the rally will take place, despite the lack of support from city and county officials. “We decided to invite the people who have experienced racism and unequal justice,” she said. “You may not agree with them, but you’ll hear stories you never hear (elsewhere) in Simi Valley.”