Commentary: Proposed Sanction Provision Goes Too Far
On Saturday the Vanguard covered an item that was submitted by Mayor Pro Tem Don Saylor and Councilmember Stephen Souza that attempted to add language to the council rules in part to amplify on existing rules in order to avoid a repeat of what happened in January that drew regional attention to the Davis City Council, but also in part to add language that could be used to sanction a member of the Davis City Council.
The Vanguard supports efforts to run meeting more effectively that would enable the council to avoid some of the problems that not only occurred on the night in question, but helped to precipitate an escalation of hostilities. However, ultimately the language in the sanction provision goes too far and would like actually incite what it hopes to avoid.
Today Robert Ferguson will be sentenced to prison for among other things, stealing less than four dollars worth of cheese and also stealing a wallet from a lady at a convenience store. While no one will argue that it is acceptable to do either of these things, given the state’s lack of resources and release of a variety of convicts, one has to wonder the wisdom of spending county time and resources on this sort of case.
