Well, finally the assorted Los Angeles area newspapers have decided to weigh in on the LA County Board of Supervisors’ attempt to “limit” (I call it quash) public input at the weekly Board of Supervisors’ meetings.  The Los Angeles Daily News reported on Supervisor Yaroslavsky’s motion to “limit” public speech under the pretext of needing to “manage” the Board’s time.   Their article “Proposal to limit public speaking at supervisors’ meetings put under review” was the first salvo by our local media, followed by an op-ed  “Supes should watch nixing free speech” in the Pasadena Star News.

This morning the Los Angeles Times came, albeit a little late to the dance, with a rather insightfully reported article providing readers with a snapshot of what a Board of Supervisor is like.  Their article “L.A. County supervisor moves to restrict speakers at board meetings” did a pretty good job at debunking Supervisor Yaroslavsky’s excuse that “oh my, we have to do this to help us better manage our time”.  As of the writing of this post the LA Times article had garnered 106 comments.

You might ask yourself “why is this important” – the simple answer is because if they succeed in quashing our right to address our input during Board meetings then we give permission to them and every other body of elected officials to whittle away our right to address and seek redress from those we elect.  Remember at a recent Board Meeting Molina labeled those members of the Public that address the Board on far too many items (as defined by the Supervisors) as people who speak gibberish and has ordered that a list of these “offending” people be drawn up and given to her.

I sent in letters to the editor to the Daily News DN BOS Time Management  and Pasadena Star News PSN Board of Supes1 .