Threatened with legal action by the American Civil Liberties Union for cutting off public commenters who “make crude gestures or use foul language,” Huntington Beach councilmembers committed Tuesday, June 17, to no longer interrupting speakers during their allotted time or threatening their removal from council meetings.
An ACLU attorney argued in a cease-and-desist letter dated May 22 that Mayor Pat Burns had previously violated California law during council meetings by interrupting speakers he labeled as disruptive, warning they could be removed, arrested or prosecuted. The mayor has also prohibited addressing councilmembers by name.
“The mayor had no legitimate basis for preventing these speakers from providing their public comments,” attorney Jonathan Markovitz said in the letter. “He certainly had no legitimate basis for indicating that their speech was in any way ‘disruptive.’”
The ACLU alleged that by enforcing vague decorum rules and imposing a blanket ban on speakers’ behaviors, the council was violating citizens’ right to address their elected officials under the Ralph M. Brown Act.
Councilmembers, not admitting to violating public rights, voted Tuesday night to let speakers have their say uninterrupted. Mayor Burns read the city’s brief response at the meeting, but there was no further discussion regarding the complaints.
During Tuesday night’s public comment period, the mayor’s mic picked up him uttering an expletive referring to a public commenter, the moment posted on multiple social media accounts.
The mayor and several councilmembers did not respond to phone calls seeking comment on the council’s policy or the mayor’s remark.
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