[CRNMC] About codifying Measure S into Mendo County law

[Charles Cresson Wood]

Hello community rights friends,

I am doing my best to keep up with all the posts to this discussion, and I may have missed some messages, given the craziness related to the holidays and end-of-semester finals. But from what I have read, there is ONLY some suspicion that the Supervisors might not codify Measure S into law -- no actual facts to substantiate that suspicion. 

This is where being on-line can run away with us, where a rumor can become a big deal, and before we know it, people are starting to treat the discussion like a fact. And then they start thinking "we're going to sue the Supervisors to get them to act," and "we're going to publicize the fact that they aren't acting," etc. This conversation seems to be going too far, too fast, without clarity about who in our group is the coordinator, and who in our group is the spokesperson.

As a result of this running away with us status, we as a group run a real risk that we may damage some of the positive political capital that we have created to date. If, for example, given the current level of this conversation, we were to approach a member of the Board of Supervisors, and straight-away say, "why won't you codify Measure S?," we could put them on the defensive, when they had no intention of refusing to codify the measure in reality. So let's set up a committee to (1) investigate how the laws are codified, (2) meet with officials at the County, and (3) then bring it back to the larger group if need be (perhaps only a report that it's done completely). The committee can set up a coordinator and a spokesperson, and perhaps meet with a local attorney if they need that.

The County should tell us how how their process for codifying initiatives works, who is involved, what the timing is, etc. We don't have to do this all on our own. Let's get our County officials to work for us in this respect, and tell us what we need to know, in order to make sure this whole Measure S process is complete and enforceable.

Best wishes,

/s/ Charles