So far, and it's early, the meeting is much tamer than the last go round.

It started off interestingly with Jess Nieto pegging the whole thing to politics, saying Councilman David Couch is using this issue to burnish his conservative credentials for a run at the Board of Supervisors, for Ray Watson's seat. Watson hasn't said he's retiring but everyone pretty much assumes it.

Couch's resolutions would make Bakersfield a non-sanctuary city, declare English the official language and find which services can be denied to illegal immigrants.

Anyway, then Mayor Harvey Hall lectured everyone in the audience to behave themselves. And, SIGH, so far they are!

Hmmm. Ed Herrera points out that declaring Bako a non-sanctuary city would mean police would have to enforce immigration laws. If that's true, that could be a problem. I mean, don't they have enough to do? What about the FEDS! (The City Attorney says it wouldn't have any affect on local policing.)

Ok wait a minute, one speaker is upset because there haven't been any Latinos on the council and talks about gerrymandering. BUT I happen to know that the most heavily Hispanic parts of Bakersfield have routinely and vociferously refused annexation into the city.

One young gal gets points for speaking up in public, no easy feat, but she loses mega points for not knowing that the resolution's English portion would NOT affect bilingual printings of city material.

Wow, former Supervisor Pete Parra doesn't sound so good. I don't remember his voice being so shaky when I was covering Supes.

You know, regardless of what you think of Couch's resolutions, it got people to get involved. I hope they stay involved!

Couch speaks:

His resolutions are anti-illegal immigration or pro-legal immgration, he says, not anti immigrant.

Symbolism over substance: Couch says the city flags, seals and motto took up council time, why not adopting English as the official language?

What about the feds? Yes, they have ultimate responsibility but that doesn't mean we shouldn't weigh in. We have in the past, such as opposing trucks from Mexico coming through the U.S.

Ooooooooooh, he calls out Councilwoman Sue Benham as having brought the Mexican trucks up...she's the one who's said repeatedly and offered a resolution saying immigration is a federal issuel. He even says it's "intellecutally dishonest" to say this isn't a local issue.

And it's not English only, but just English as our official language, though, as he's said before city publications would still be bilingual. But on the symbolic side, he said, if all cities adopted this, it might get the attention of the feds.

In July, he said, a member of the Delores Huerta Foundaton asked the Council to consider becoming a sanctuary city and that, combined with a question on the Inga Barks radio show, prompted him to bring these resolutions and he's stickin' by em.

Why'd you do this? It's totally under our authority to say English is our official language and if we can declare ourselves a sanctuary city, we can say we're a non-sanctuary city. Was it for political gain? He doesn't actually address his politial aims. It's just an urge to see something done on this issue, he says.

He says he'll support all the resolutions, his and Benham's.

Benham up: She says the Mexican truck resolution Couch mentions is similar to her resolution that the feds need to address this. Intellectual honesty is important to her!

Her proposal is the city calls on the feds to enact real immigration form and to enforce current laws and reimburse local governments for costs of illegal immigration.

Jacquie Sullivan highlights:

We're a country of laws. If it's a law, it's a law. You can't go against the law. We're a country of immigrants. This is certainly not a city issue. This is an issue I have not welcomed. It's not an easy issue. At the same time, it is easy: you're here legally or you're here illegally.

Whew!

Benham's resolution: Six ayes w/Carson no. (Which is weird because she seemed to be against Couch's English-only resolution, which wasn't in Benham's)

English as the official language of Bakersfield: Only Hanson and Couch voted yes.

City of Bakersfield not a sanctuary city: Hanson, Couch and Sullivan vote yes, MOTION FAILS.

So, despite all the attention on Couch beforehand, it turns out to be Benham's night.