Keep Censorship in Portland’s Charter
That, apparently, is the recommendation of the Charter Review Commission. The one they asked Council today to send to voters, to allow citizens to vote on it. Included in their proposed version is this:
50. To prevent the sale, circulation, display, and disposition of obscene matter, including books, papers, prints, pictures, films and other material, and of obscene advertisements of any kind, and to punish any person who sells or offers for sale, displays or who circulates or disposes of such literature, books, papers, prints, pictures, films, advertising matter and other material, and to define and declare from time to time what literature, books, papers, prints, pictures, films, advertising matter and other materials are obscene within the purpose and province of this provision.
Yes, good citizens of Portland, this is currently in our Charter as a function of city government, presumably a relic from 80 years ago. It’s in Chapter 2. Apparently the Charter Review Commission took a glance at it, since they are proposing to move it to Chapter 1. And their recommendation keeps this article, which is very clearly an unconstitutional limitation of freedom of expression, i.e., censorship*.
*Update 22:45 p.m.: Or maybe not. See first comment.
I pointed this out at the hearing today. I noticed it for the first time at the hearing when reading through the report, the published version of which was delivered to Commissioners’ offices yesterday. I was tempted not to highlight such an egregious violation of current values in Portland. One sure way to shoot down a ballot measure on the Strong Mayor proposal would have been to leave this section in, then fight the Form of Government proposal on censorship. One of the problems in our government today is that few people bother to read every detail in a 60-page report…. I’d bet you dollars to donuts if I hadn’t mentioned it, nobody would have noticed it before it went into the ballot language. After all, apparently nobody questioned it on the 26-member commission over 14 months of hearings and work. So I considered using a different example of error, but decided I should do the right thing in pointing this one out. Plus, I was afraid if I didn’t use a particularly spectacular example of a problem in the proposal, in my meager three minutes at the microphone, the Council would send the Commission’s recommendation out as is.
If you follow that link and look at the other authorities of the city, you’ll see there are currently 65 Specific Powers listed. In an amazing coincidence, there are 65 listed in the section the Commission is proposing to move to Chapter 1. Unfortunately, the Commission’s proposal is given with no strikethrough or underlining to show changes, and I haven’t yet had time to go through to verify they just cut and pasted. But included in their recommendation to be sent to voters, are powers I’m guessing are out-of-date…. language on “punishment of vagrants and paupers”, for example, and power “to prohibit begging in public places”. Yep, all in the proposal to be sent to voters.
Sadly lacking, as I pointed out in my testimony, is any mention of the value of the city supporting public schools. Precious little on environmental protection, either. As Mary Ann Schwab so eloquently testified, Why is the recommendation of the Charter Review Commission considered so urgent it hasn’t waited to hear the results of VisionPDX or Community Connect? Isn’t the work of those volunteers just as important?
Are we all getting the picture yet? These proposals aren’t anywhere near being ready to be sent to voters in May.
Today, the Council voted unanimously to accept the report. Accepting it doesn’t mean they agree with it or will send anything to the ballot. Mayor Potter seemed like he is ready to send the recommendations on, as is. Dan Saltzman said it is his responsibility as an elected official to take the Commission’s proposals and send them out to voters, prompting someone near me to mutter, “gee, how many times have we heard him say, ‘I was elected to make decisions, and that’s what I’m doing’?” Erik Sten has questions about some parts, is opposed to Strong Mayor, may be fine with others. Randy Leonard sounded concerned about all of them. And Sam Adams appears to like the Strong Mayor piece, but may be having difficulty persuading himself the proposals are ready to go.
The next step is a hearing on February 7, when citizens will be given three minutes to comment on the substance of the recommendations, rather than the process. It’s on the agenda for 9:30 a.m. I asked Mayor Potter today to change the timing to an evening hearing, to allow more citizens to attend and comment without having to miss work.
It’s entirely possible, in fact likely, one or more parts of the Commission’s recommendations will be sent to the ballot this May, despite the fact that turnout is likely to be less than 30%.
I hope those who testified today and others who sent in e-mails gave the Councilmen more to think about. We certainly made it clear referring the proposals in May will not result in four slam-dunk approvals. I think the next step is for citizens who care about Portland’s charter, which is our city’s Constitution and Owners’ Manual combined, to review the proposals in detail and send mass quantities of input to the Council between now and February 7. Maybe if they see there are still many outstanding concerns, they’ll slow down and give more citizens a chance to discuss what should be on the ballot, before sending something we can only vote Yes or No on.