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Life Issues/Family Ethics Political Action Committee

of Southwest Washington

County Commissioners and Vancouver City Councilors on FVRL library board appointments

Why did Clark County Commissioners Morris, Pridemore, and Stanton quietly re-appoint Merle Koplan as a Ft. Vancouver(FVRL) library trustee in September when her term doesn’t end until Dec 31 2004? These commissioners have never made regular library board appointments before the November election, and often make them in January or later, when the new 7-year library board term begins. At the Oct. 19 commissioner meeting, Pridemore gave the bogus excuse that the early appointment was to allow time to circulate to Skamania and Klickitat Counties. However, public records show it took only about 3 weeks to circulate, which is the time it usually takes.

Commissioners also pointed to the unusual agreement they made with Vancouver in 1999. For years Vancouver made appointments, in violation of state law. Senator Don Benton notified the county of the need to comply with State law(RCW 27.12.190) "In intercounty rural library districts (like FVRL) a board of either five or seven trustees shall be appointed by the joint action of the boards of county commissioners of each of the counties included in a district…" The county responded with a unique inter-local agreement to allow Vancouver to recommend 2 of the 7 library trustees. Commissioners in one county are not obligated to rubberstamp recommendations from other counties, but may affirm or reject them. Recommendations by cities or citizens are not binding either. The appointment process seems to vary from year to year.

Applications from the public were not sought for the September 2004 re-appointment of Koplan, or the 1998 Skamania County re-appointment of county employee Marilyn Butler. According to an e-mail from Clark County, in 2001 commissioners conducted public and non-public interviews for library trustees and discussed applications openly and in "executive session", out of the public view. This contradicts statements reported in the Oct. 17 Reflector article, Citizens pan library board appointments: "Morris said citizens may attend candidate interviews which are open to the public and announced on commissioner work calendars. ‘I don’t know how we can be any more open,’ said Morris.

Vancouver City Councilors Jeanne Harris and Pat Jollata also conducted non-public interviews when Vancouver last recommended Jack Burkman in Feb. 2003 for a term that began in 2003. Harris recently stated that she strongly supports adult access to pornography in public libraries as a "first amendment right" at an Oct. 14 commissioner candidate forum.

In contrast, when trustees wanted to serve again in Thurston and Mason Counties, the counties gave public notice of the opening and interviewed several candidates in open public meetings before making an informed decision. Lewis County also follows that open public process.

Clark, Skamania, and Klickitat County Commissioners have consistently appointed FVRL library trustees who oppose widely accepted community standards. Since 1998, public records of library complaints have included obscene screens, printouts, and behaviors as well as sex offenders and illegal materials. Thousands of citizens have supported filtering out Internet porn and prohibiting distribution to minors like other library systems (Tacoma, Wenatchee, Puyallup, Camas). Citizens packed public hearings and board meetings, sent letters, and circulated petitions, but were largely ignored.

When library trustees voted to keep unfiltered access for all ages in 1998, Trustee Jerry King wrote, "In fact, the conclusion that pornography is often harmful to kids does not seem to be supported by much evidence, especially when some other factors are considered." Commissioners unanimously re-appointed King to a second term starting 2002. In August 2002, King voted against filtering porn for children again. A narrow majority (4-3) voted to filter porn for children 12 and under, but that decision wasn’t implemented until August 2003. The Children’s Internet Protection Act finally moved FVRL to filter Internet pornography for minors 16 and under in April 2004. Unfiltered access continues for those 17 and up, and hardcopy is still distributed to minors.

State Representatives Mielke (8 years), Boldt (10 years), Dunn (6 years) and Senators Benton (10 years-2 as Representative) and Zarelli (8 years) have consistently sponsored legislation to block illegal Internet porn, prohibit distribution to minors in libraries, and to elect library boards. If elected as county commissioners, Mielke and Boldt support public interviews for trustees who will better reflect our community and public safety.

State imposed limits on personal speech by appointed board, Human Rights Commission

Jim Moeller was chairman of The Community Coordinating Committee for a Human
Rights Commission, which proposed the creation of a local human rights
commission. His committee supported creating a bureaucracy that advocated
punishing certain kinds of speech that an appointed board deemed offensive.
The following was used as an example of speech that should not be allowed.
It was a quote made by someone who was asked about their view of churches
who welcome practicing gays and lesbians as members.

"It's a false church. They've compromised their beliefs, they've
compromised the bible, and they've compromised the word of god. They've
pretty much caved into worldly pressures. They have no backbone. True
believers are smart enough to stay away from those churches."

The proposal, explicitly used this quote as an example of discrimination
that should be punished. The mission statement of the commission was in part
to create a culturally competent community. Who defines culturally
competent? The appointed Human Rights Commission.

Original proposal for the Local Human Rights Commission, Nov. 20, 2000:
“Human rights ordinances adopted by the County and City will ensure that
consequences are present should an offender fail to comply with the
administrative decisions of the HRC or its hearing examiner(s). Remedies
will include civil penalties and/or criminal penalties in cases that do not
attain resolution through mediation.”
Ordinance M-3557 to establish the commission was adopted by the Vancouver
City Council (6-1) in July 2001, despite strong citizen opposition. Clark
County Commissioners (Pridemore, Stanton and Morris) then unanimously approved forming a County/City Human
Rights Commission of nine non-elected appointees, dubbed the “thought
cops”. The commission was to provide mediation, education and referrals for
approximately $200,000 taxpayer dollars every two years. These services were
a duplication of similar services offered by the state.
Their duties would've included proposing additional anti-discrimination
laws, subject to only one public hearing and city council vote. Citizens
were concerned about private speech regulated by a non-elected body. In
addition, early drafts included penalties for non-compliant speech as
determined by the “thought cops”. Framers of the commission were all
enthusiastic supporters.

Jeanne Harris is currently Chairwoman of the Board of Directors for C-Tran and Betty Sue Morris is also a member of the Board. In January 2004, buses began showing up around town with large advertisements on the side panels for the local abortionist organization, Planned Parenthood. These ads contributed to the likelihood of teens participating in sexual activity and promoted the various products sold by Planned Parenthood that supposedly make it "safe."

Ad Reads "The Pill? Sure! Or maybe the Ring, or the Patch, or the Shot or EC (so called emergency contraception) ..."

Many members of the community complained with phone calls and letters to the C-Tran main office. Lynne Griffith, CEO of C-Tran, answered with written statements that, due to legal constraints, C-Tran could only restrict ads that encouraged unlawful or illegal behavior. This is true. It is, in fact, the way C-Tran prevents alcohol or cigarette companies from advertising on city buses since these ads would be seen by minors who are too young to drink or smoke.

It was pointed out in letters to the C-Tran Management and Board of Directors that minors who view the Planned Parenthood ads will be too young in many cases to legally participate in sexual activity and that the ads are inappropriate for display on publicly-funded buses. C-Tran chose not to listen and continued to allow Planned Parenthood's shameless display on buses in the C-Tran system. Their next excuse was that the ad campaign had been withdrawn in June 2004 and so the problem has "gone away." Of course, this means that the controversial subject was buried in time to promote the C-Tran tax increase, but it could easily be rolled back out in the future.

These elected officials, Jeanne Harris from the Vancouver City Council and current Clark County Commissioner Betty Sue Morris have shown a lack of leadership and common moral sense in this situation. State Representatives Marc Boldt and Thomas Mielke have both stated on question #6 on the LifePac survey that they would not support public funds being spent on advertising for abortion clinics like Planned Parenthood. Please consider supporting them with your vote in this year's race for Clark County Commissioner.

Mielke plays blame game in race against Morris
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
By ERIN MIDDLEWOOD, Columbian staff writer

... Mielke took the commissioners to task for the Fort Vancouver Regional
Library's policy that lets adults look at sexually explicit material on
Internet terminals.

County commissioners did not make that decision. But they, along with
commissioners from two other counties, approve appointments to the library
board, which decided to filter the Internet for minors, but lets those 17
and older request unfiltered access.

Morris said commissioners don't "get into the middle" of the
appointments, and added that she supports filters for minors.

It's election season. And some women are trying to persuade other women to
vote a certain way based on "women's issues."

Excerpt: County Commissioner Betty Sue Morris, a female Democratic incumbent, has
not been endorsed by the group (neither was her opponent Rep. Tom Mielke).
The [Women's Political] caucus president told me that neither candidate responded to inquiries.
Morris told me she did turn in the group's questionnaire, but it was
misplaced by accident.

Not that Morris expected to receive an endorsement. While the
intelligent and hardworking commissioner does happen to be pro-choice, she
says she is probably not as pro-choice as the caucus would like. She
believes some level of parental involvement in the case of minors who seek
abortions is appropriate. Morris could not recall any growth-related
question being on the caucus' questionnaire.

A revealing question/answer forum for the Clark County Commissioner race
was featured in the September 2004 issue of the SpringHill Review, a local
journal of northwest culture.

Among other questions, the Commissioner candidates were asked, "Would you appoint library board members who support or who oppose blocking
patrons’ Internet access to pornography as long as legitimate research could
be accessed? Why?" County Commissioners in Clark, Klickitat, and Skamania
Counties appoint and confirm Fort Vancouver Regional Library board members
to seven year terms.

Incumbent Betty Sue Morris (D) - District 1
Declined to answer citing time restraints.

Tom Mielke (R)- District 1
" I have run legislation repeatedly to have library boards elected in hopes
of making them more accountable to citizens. However, as a member of the
minority party in the House of Representatives, even though I was able to
get a hearing twice, the Chairperson would not allow it to come to a vote in
the committee. As Commissioner, I would not appoint board members who took
their marching orders from the American Library Association. I am
foursquare behind Internet filtering and have been dismayed at the lack of
support for this common sense step to protect our children in our libraries.
Further, I oppose the idea of a seven year term as being a tool that stifles
responsiveness to the community of matters such as these. If we cannot get
library board members elected, them we can at least put them through a
confirmation process every two years that would force them to answer for
their acts, good or bad."

October 5, 2004 - Clark County Commissioners (Craig Pridemore, Betty Sue Morris and Judie Stanton) unanimously approved forming a County/City Human Rights Commission of nine non-elected appointees, dubbed the "thought cops". The commission was to provide mediation, education and referrals for approximately $200,000 taxpayer dollars every two years. These services were a duplication of similar services offered by the state. Their duties would've included proposing additional anti-discrimination laws, subject to only one public hearing and city council vote. Citizens were concerned about private speech regulated by a non-elected body. In addition, early drafts included penalties for non-compliant speech as determined by the "thought cops". Framers of the commission were all enthusiastic supporters.

Voters reject "thought cops". Ordinance M-3557 to establish the commission was adopted by the Vancouver City Council (6-1) in July 2001, despite strong citizen opposition. Over 5,000 Vancouver residents responded and signed the first successful referendum petition ever, to put the commission to a vote. There is no power of referendum in the county. Later, the Clark County commissioners unanimously approved the commission, in spite of the petition drive and citizen objections. Vancouver citizens voted soundly against the "thought cops" commission in November 2001, and it was rescinded by both the city and county.

County commissioners displayed arrogant disregard for the legitimate concerns of thousands of citizens by voting in favor of the commission. Since county residents do not have the power of referendum and initiative, it is even more important to vote for freedom loving representatives, not those who seek to regulate citizen freedoms from the county throne.

Background Info. Original proposal for the Local Human Rights Commission, Nov. 20, 2000: "Human rights ordinances adopted by the County and City will ensure that consequences are present should an offender fail to comply with the administrative decisions of the HRC or its hearing examiner(s). Remedies will include civil penalties and/or criminal penalties in cases that do not attain resolution through mediation."

Kelly Adams, Columbian Staff Writer, wrote Mar. 12, 2001: "Also removed from the (original) proposal is the request for an anti-discrimination ordinance. Once the commission is formed, those on the board would be charged with determining if a specific law is needed, then drafting such an ordinance and bringing it before the city council."

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