Controversy continues over the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative”s staff dividing the Regional Stakeholders Group in half, apparently despite objections of a majority of group members.
Jim Burns, a Noyo Harbor Commissioner, resigned the RSG last week, citing the strong-handed control and division of the group as one reason.
The cities of Point Arena and Fort Bragg also sent a letter of protest, saying the division into two groups is eroding consensus building and progress made over the past year.
At the same time, MLPAI Executive Director Ken Wiseman is pledging greater openness in an effort to get beyond controversy over public access.
In a phone interview last week, Wiseman pledged the MLPAI will no longer ban filming, will no longer ask the visual media who want to report on the MLPAI for prior permission, and won”t demand media credentials.
He said he wants to set aside issues on public access in order to get on with the work at hand.
But the public access controversy is tightly linked to how the RSG was divided in half, emerging as the most significant official move so far in the MLPAI process. The division of the group happened at the same April 21 meeting where David Gurney of Fort Bragg was arrested and prevented from filming, as part of his efforts to document the process. MLPAI staff also did not record the now controversial division of the group.
Burns said he voted for the division initially, in the hopes it would prevent the RSG from being so tightly controlled by MLPAI staff and the RSG could do more of its own work.
“Simply put, the facilitators requested that we vote on this matter and we did — results: 12 votes for one group and six votes for two groups. In addition, there were 14 votes that had no specific opinion,” Burns said.
When heavy-handed control by MLPAI staff continued, Burns changed his position on the division and ultimately resigned. He has suggested that Fort Bragg Mayor Doug Hammerstrom replace him on the RSG, but has gotten no response on that idea.
While Wiseman said MLPAI would relax its public access restrictions, there is no written policy as yet. No email response was given, only an oral interview.
The official Department of Fish and Game website for MLPAI continues to assert that there will be no public comment period at work sessions and that accredited media can cover the sessions only with prior permission, all of which would be considered violations of open government laws by experts in Bagley-Keene and other openness laws.
Wiseman asserted that he had legal opinions that contradicted two prominent attorneys contacted by this newspaper (and this reporter”s reading of the act). When asked for that opinion in writing, he said he had gotten the legal opinion orally from an attorney with the Department of Fish and Game.
The MLPAI did not seek an attorney general or any other written opinion on how meetings should be conducted. So far, nobody has offered an explanation of how a private organization whose members are appointed by the state, whose meetings are provided security by on-duty Department of Fish and Game officers, and which is operating in a legal contract to play a key role in enacting a state law could possibly continue to assert that it is not subject to Bagley-Keene, under any reading of that act.
The MLPAI is a private organization contracted by the state of California to gather public input and prepare proposed maps of new areas to close to fishing or to restrict fishing, along the entire length of California”s coastline.
No information was available by presstime about whether any other RSG members had resigned or whether Burns would be replaced.
