LifePac of SW Washington

Life Issues/Family Ethics Political Action Committee

of Southwest Washington

In February of 2004, citizens presented a stack of recent and previous complaints from library users about library pornography to the Vancouver City Council. Many of the complaints were registered in the downtown library. The response was openly hostile from Mayor Pollard and Councilman Dan Tonkovich. The Vancouver City Council had been presented complaints in previous years about children accessing pornography in Vancouver libraries, and took no action. The public records of the complaints can be read here. Jeanne Stewart was the only council member to treat the citizens with respect, and to question pornography distribution in a facility that serves children.

Residents knock library on porn
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
By JEFFREY MIZE, Columbian staff writer

A handful of residents who slammed the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District on Monday for not blocking children from viewing Internet pornography received an equally sharp response from members of the Vancouver City Council.

... Council members listened to Camas resident Margaret Tweet, former Councilwoman Jeanne Lipton and others criticize the library for dragging its feet in implementing the Children's Internet Protection Act before they cut loose with their own volley.

... Mayor Royce Pollard said he found the timing of Monday's comments "interesting" ... "I object to Mrs. Tweet coming to the citizens of the city and telling them how to vote," Pollard said.

... Councilwoman Jeanne Stewart said the city council has no policy stating that people who speak to the council must live inside the city limits. The people who turned out to speak Monday were only exercising their First Amendment rights, she said. "What I saw from this panel was anger and hostility," Stewart said.

... Stewart agreed the issue is worth supporting, but she also said the library has failed to assure parents that their children won't be subjected to "a sexually charged atmosphere." "You don't take your kids to a tavern," she said. "You don't take them to a bar. "You don't take them to a strip club."

"Rian Girard, one of the city residents who spoke out Monday night, said he would normally support the bond measure but cannot because of the library's unwillingness to do more on Internet pornography."

Months ago, Larry Patella came up with the catchy slogan that Vancouver voters will "remember in November."

The persistent city hall critic insisted that voters would punish Mayor Royce Pollard and other city council incumbents for backing the special events center and the human rights commission. ...

... "And when we go astray, they certainly let us know." Which is precisely what voters did Tuesday in shooting down the proposed human rights commission by a margin almost as wide as Pollard's lopsided win.

The mayor, along with Harris and Jollota, had voted for the commission. There had been speculation the issue, plus the council's support for the $62.7 million events center-convention center project, would drag down Pollard and open the door for Councilwoman Jeanne Lipton to seize his gavel.

Jeanne Stewart, who won the only open seat on the seven-member council, said the bottom line is voters "were not satisfied with the opponents enough to make a change."

"If they don't know enough about an opponent, it isn't likely they are going to punch that person's name," she said. ...

... While voters shunned Lipton, they turned to Stewart, a soft- spoken woman who has criticized the council for insulating itself from different viewpoints.

When a FVRL library trustee opening came up for the year starting January 2005, the opening was not advertised, and there were no interviews conducted. Instead, the existing trustee was recommended prematurely in August 2004 for a a second term by Mayor Pollard. Elsewhere, all openings are publicly noticed so that any citizen may apply, and applicants are interviewed prior to recommendation, regardless of whether the existing trustee is willing to serve again or not.