On November 19, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln concluded his Gettysburg Address as follows: “It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Lincoln likely borrowed the now famous phrase from what legendary Englishman John Wycliffe wrote in the prologue to his 1384 English translation of the Bible. Wycliffe wrote that “The Bible is for the Government of the People, by the People, and for the People.”
That phrase noted both before and after the good work of the Founding Fathers captures their mandate that the citizenry and republic could never afford to turn their business and future over to the whims of elected and God forbid paid officials.
Thus, there have been numerous laws to insure that the people’s business is done in the “sunshine” or out in the open giving opportunity to witness, give testimony and redress grievances.
For cities and counties the open meetings protections are noted in the 1953 Brown Act as such: “In enacting this chapter, the Legislature finds and declares that the public commissions, boards and councils and the other public agencies in this State exist to aid in the conduct of the people’s business. It is the intent of the law that their actions be taken openly and that their deliberations be conducted openly.”
“The people of this State do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the governing bodies they have created.”
Unfortunately local supervisors and council members turned their thinking over to higher government officials that bribed them with Covid Hoax funding thereby forbidding the public from attending public meetings. A year has passed with citizens only participating with Zoom-type technology.
Some politicians like being shielded from the publics’ physical presence. Then Yuba City Mayor Shon Harris even had a citizen arrested and removed from the meeting for just being present in the council chambers.
Happily, the Sutter County Board of Supervisors and the Yuba City Council are again conducting open meetings. However, Yuba County Supervisors and the Marysville City Council gatherings are still forbidden to the public.
Last week, after a couple Zoom participants encouraged the Marysville council to open the meetings new Mayor Chris Branscum also expressed his desire to return to normal and for the city to follow the Constitution.
Yuba County Supervisor Gary Bradford is tolerant of the closed meetings while touting the benefits of Zoom. In fact, he posed a two question survey to his Plumas Lake constituents asking if they prefer attending meetings or zoom. Nearly all voted zoom. However, does he want to eliminate public meetings?
Yuba County has an economically, ethnically and technologically diverse populace. Many have no or poor Internet access, don’t use computers and even fewer use meeting technology. No officials can honestly argue that people accessing the meeting by zoom will ever compare to the chamber full of protesters with placards making their arguments before them.
The American Community Survey in 2017 found that just 54% of people with no college, 55% of low income and 59% of rural folks had broadband in their homes. And only 2/3s of black and Latino families overall had access. Furthermore, many with Internet access cannot easily reach the meetings using an app. Some Yuba residents even failed with the help of county staff.
People could use their cell phones to access WIFI and Zoom, but it is a fairly small devise to use effectively.
Live stream and Zoom may be an added aid to give people access but they both fall far short of fulfilling the legal mandate to allow the public’s presence before the elected officials.
(See more articles and podcasts at nohostageradio.com)
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