The Oxnard Journal - April 2004 in the year of our Lord

Oxnard City Officials Violate the Brown Act.

In a decision, that has vindicated the people - a Ventura County Superior Court judge has ruled that Oxnard City officials did indeed violate the Brown Act. The full ramifications of this decision are yet to be seen as the pleading continues later this month. The following letters have been received in support of Martin Jones and his sacrifices for the people of Oxnard.
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The successful case of Martin Jones vs. City of Oxnard/Community Development Commission, is indeed a tremendous victory to all residents of Oxnard and the surrounding communities. The Brown Act is a law which prevents "Secret Meetings" from taking place and allowing the participation of the public with all functions of government.

It is important to note the following:
The Councilmembers involved in the violation of the Brown Act are as follows:

                                                             Mayor Pro Tem Maulhardt
                                                             Councilmember Pinkard
                                                             Councilmemer Zaragoza
                                                             Ex-Councilmember Holden.

Mayor Manuel Lopez was not involved with the Brown Act Violation. The mayor excused himself from participating in the project since a possible conflict of interest was present due to real estate ownership in the downtown area.

Whether you are in favor or against a particular project, allow the process to be open to all to comment, allow the meeting to be open for all to participate, but most of all, allow Democracy to be practiced.

Edward M. Castillo
805-815-3366

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It'll be interesting to see what happens in another trial currently taking place in Judge Vincent O'Neill's court. If he was reluctant to look for corruption in Oxnard's Brown Act violation case, apparently because he didn't feel it was the court's business to get involved in such matters, he'll get an earful when he hears about what took place in San Bernardino county, where two former chief administrators, along with many others, were caught accepting massive bribes over a period of years. San Bernardino County is now trying to recover damages, and the trial has been relocated to Ventura. Perhaps Judge O'Neill will experience an epiphany, and perhaps the Ventura County district attorney's office will actually learn a thing or two from the San Bernardino district attorney's office about how to do its job.

Peter Apanel

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June 12, 2004

Oxnard Officials violate the Brown Act.

Dear Editor;

In the recent civil trial of Martin Jones vs. the City of Oxnard, Judge Vincent O' Neill ruled that the city of Oxnard violated the Brown Act. The judge ruled that the city's interpretation of "Price and Terms" was too broadly applied and violated the intent of the Brown Act. The ruling that city does not have to tape closed door sessions was disappointing. The purpose of having closed door session for real estate transactions is to prevent a private party from knowing what the government is willing to negotiate regarding price and terms for a given transaction. After a real estate agreement is reached, there is no reason why the information discussed behind closed doors could not be revealed to the public. Video and audio recordings could be made available to the public after the transaction has been consummated. If the elected representatives of the public knew before hand that what was discussed in closed sessions would later be made public, then perhaps the citizens would be better served. What would the public have learned regarding College Park, the Rainbow House, Sports Park, the Brown Building, or the Farm Heritage Museum if recordings of those discussions had been made available to the public? The release of such recordings to the public would at least allow the private citizen the opportunity to make personal judgments rather than taking an elected official's decision at face value.

Judge Vincent O" Neill also ruled that criminal intent wasn't proven. It could be argued that by not allowing testimony from former city officials and planning commissioners, he wanted to avoid looking for criminal intent. Perhaps now, the district attorney will initiate proceedings against the city of Oxnard. The downtown theater project was just one example, last Tuesday's night city council closed door session regarding selling or leasing portions of public land (River Ridge Course or College Park) to an unnamed private party (Field of Dreams) in another example. The pattern and practice of the elected officials and appointed senior personnel within the city of Oxnard to continue to violate the Brown Act is not a mere smoking gun that a blind man cannot see, but a forest fire that a blind man can feel and run for life from.

Larry Stein

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