Does televising government meetings hurt public participation?

Bakersfield City Councilman Ken Weir thinks so.

At a meeting of the Bakersfield City Council’s Planning and Development Committee Thursday, Weir said he would prefer that meetings of a proposed city-county task force on transportation funding not be televised.

Taxpayers should be encouraged to participate in the process by coming to the meetings, rather than just staying at home and watching the meetings on TV, he said.

Actually, that was his second argument. First, he said the city shouldn’t have to bear the cost of televising the meetings. (City staffers said they didn’t know how much airing a meeting costs.)

Michael Turnipseed, executive director of the Kern County Taxpayers’ Association (or “Kern Tax”), said televising the meetings helps participation by educating the public. As long as the education level is zero, he said, the participation level will be the same.

Besides, at the end of the day, he likes to put his feet up and watch local government meetings with an adult beverage and a cigar.

Vice Mayor Harold Hanson initially agreed with Weir, but slowly changed his mind during the meeting. He eventually said he didn’t want to be a penny pincher when it came to public participation.

And, Hanson said, it’s surprising how many people watch meetings on <a href = http://www.co.kern.ca.us/gs... the local government station. He said he thinks many voters make their decisions based on what they see on the station.

When it became apparent Weir was in the minority on the issue, he suggested limiting the meetings to one hour. That didn’t quite fly with Hanson or Councilman Zack Scrivner either, but they did consent to having staff suggest time limits on agenda items to keep the meeting moving along.

---James Geluso

 State Sen. Dean Florez says he’s running for lieutenant governor.

It’s the office that is traditionally viewed as the most meaningless job in state government, but it may never be the same if he wins.

Florez, famous for calling frequent press conferences to announce proposals or criticize government agencies, said he believes the office can be used as a “bully pulpit” to push for new programs to benefit consumers, workers and the environment.

Not to mention positioning himself for a future run for governor.

Florez is the latest lawmaker facing the end of his legislative career under the current terms limits law to announce plans to run for a higher office.

“I think most folks recognize that the Lieutenant Governor's office has been underutilized,” Florez said in an e-mail statement. “I think that I have the energy and ideas to make it into a powerhouse position in state government on par with any other statewide office.”

--Vic Pollard

 

Tongues around town have been wagging about a May 25 confrontation between Jeff Flores, an aide to state Sen. Roy Ashburn, and Steven Teglia, vice president of governmental affairs for the Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce.

Flores said Teglia grabbed him by the throat for two seconds then hurled expetives at him.

Teglia said he doesn’t want to engage in a public “he said, she said” debate about what he called a private discussion he had with Flores.

The incident happened at Cafe Med, where the two and four others were having an after-work discussion.

Neither Teglia nor any of the people at the table were willing to talk about the incident.

But Flores was.

The conversation was about current events, he said, and turned to General Holding, the company that owns property it wants to develop on the bluffs of northeast Bakersfield. Bakersfield’s Hillside Ordinance, which was adopted in October, put some limits on development in the bluffs area.

The conversation became heated and Teglia, sitting next to Flores, grabbed him by the throat, Flores said.

“It was a firm grab and the duration, I don’t know, two seconds?” Flores said Friday.

Flores said he told Teglia to “take his hands off me,” and someone else at the table tugged on Teglia’s shirt, at which point Teglia let go.

Flores then got up and moved his chair around the table, and the conversation resumed, he said.

“And he came around, standing up, yelling in my face, hurling expletives at me,” Flores said. “He got out of his chair and was standing over me.”

“And I just told him at this point to sit down,” Flores continued. “That was pretty much the end of it, then he walked out.”

Flores said he has not filed any charges against Teglia, but wouldn’t say whether he plans to.

Teglia declined to comment on what happened between him and Flores. He said he’s had many after-work conversations with Flores, and this was no different.

“To be quite honest, I don’t think there’s much of a story here,” Teglia said.

The bill that made national headlines because it called for a ban on parental spanking in California is dead.
The Assembly Appropriations Committee rejected AB 755  on Thursday, even though it was a watered-down version of the original proposal.

In the face of raging controversy over the no-spanking provision, Assemblywoman Sally Lieber,  D-Mountain View, had re-written the measure. In its final form, it merely made it easier to prosecute child abuse such as vigorous shaking, striking with a belt or choking.

--Vic Pollard