Official Seeks Guidelines for Speakers

After enduring weeks of attacks, Councilman Bedford Pinkard has asked the city to develop guidelines for what speakers can say during council meetings.

During the public comment portions of the past several council meetings, Pinkard, who is African American, has been the target of what he called “very, very derogatory” racial and personal attacks on his character and politics.

At a Nov. 28 meeting, a speaker called Pinkard “Elton Gallegly’s boy” for endorsing the Simi Valley Republican congressman, and referred to Pinkard’s daughter, who died of leukemia in 1962 at age 4.

“I think it’s wrong and slanderous,” Pinkard said.

At this week’s council meeting, Pinkard asked the city’s staff to develop an ordinance that would mandate a more respectful atmosphere, a desire echoed by most of his council colleagues.

“There ought to be some guidelines as to what is appropriate behavior at council meetings,” said Councilman Dean Maulhardt.

Like many Ventura County cities, Oxnard already has rules regarding public comments at council meetings. Some council members say those rules are not being enforced.

Oxnard’s rules state that speakers should address comments to the council as a whole rather than to individual members.

“People have a right to share their opinion, but when it becomes personal that’s a different story,” said Mayor Pro Tem John Zaragoza. The city should find a way to foster respect without infringing on speakers’ 1st Amendment rights, Zaragoza said.

“I do not want to infringe on any person’s rights at all,” he said. “That’s a very, very fine line there.”

City councils may regulate the time, place and manner of public comments, said Terry Francke, general counsel for the California First Amendment Coalition.

“They certainly can adopt guidelines on subject matter,” Francke said. “I think they should focus on relevance.”

Although an agency cannot ban criticism outright, certain types of speech can cross the line, he said.

“A body can legislate and . . . prohibit the use of language that is foreseeably calculated more to shock than to inform,” Francke said, adding that the same goes for some personal attacks and racial slurs.

Banning a person outright from council meetings, as Pinkard has suggested for one critic, is more difficult, he said. “The banning has to be based on conduct and not identity,” Francke said.

Some councilmen said that Mayor Manuel Lopez, as the presiding officer, should be faster to respond when speakers get out of hand.

But Lopez said he has been the target of racial attacks, and that perhaps he has “a thicker skin.”

The council has discussed public courtesy at retreats, said Councilman Tom Holden. Before enacting tougher speech codes, the city should enforce the ones it has, Holden said. “Ultimately the responsibility is the mayor’s,” he said.