Internal affairs » An irreverent inside view of the week’s news in local and state politics

Berkeley signals new speaker policy

UC Berkeley has become a violent flashpoint for political demonstrators of all stripes in recent months as right-wing speakers like Ann Coulter have announced plans to speak on the famously left-leaning campus.

Coulter and her cohorts have framed these talks as conservatives standing up for free speech, leaving Cal batting back negative media coverage as a school that values only liberal ideas. And the university has had enough. Buried in the debate has been the school’s argument that it can’t accommodate every speaker on the exact day student groups want, particularly when the requests come in late, because it has limited venues and security concerns. No more.

Now, Berkeley has rolled out a draft policy which — when you cut through

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the wonkiness — is an attempt to get ahead of future disputes and bring certain groups (ahem, Berkeley College Republicans) in line.

They’re already putting it to use. The Berkeley College Republicans recently invited the conservative speaker Ben Shapiro to campus in the fall and are framing the invite as yet another fight for free speech. Berkeley told the group it was committed to bringing Shapiro to campus (and even offered to take the unusual step of helping the group pay for a venue if a suitable free space could not be located), but said the organization would have to comply with the new interim policy.

“Like the existing policy, it will support the right and ability of organizations to host speakers of their choosing without regard for the speakers’ perspectives or positions,” the school wrote in an email to the club.

“We believe deeply in the value and importance of Free Speech, and fully support student groups’ right to invite speakers of their choice to campus,” new Chancellor Carol Christ said in a separate statement. “Over the years, we have hosted literally dozens of speakers from both conservative and libertarian movements without incident. The key is for the hosting organization to work collaboratively with the campus through a detailed planning process. I am confident the event will be safely and successfully held.”

It “is important for policies to explicitly address procedures for responding to a new set of security concerns that have recently emerged,” reads a note announcing the new draft policy.

From a PR perspective, it’s not a bad move. It gives the school a politically neutral policy to point at amid all the spin.

But if the draft holds, student groups will have some serious hoops to jump through. Groups will be asked to request space eight weeks or more prior to major events and submit publicity materials to an adviser for review at least five weeks before the event. If university police think an event requires substantial security, the student organization hosting it will have to meet with the UC police at least six weeks ahead of the event.

Of course, the draft doesn’t say so, but the implication is clear: The school doesn’t want Berkeley College Republicans, or any other group for that matter, springing an event on administrators at the last minute and spinning any issues into a broader controversy.

The policy is set to take effect officially in January after a period of public comment, which is sure to be contentious.

High-powered couple returns to valley

A high-powered couple with deep ties in Washington, D.C., is headed back to Santa Clara County: Michelle Poche Flaherty, who once served as chief of staff to Supervisor Joe Simitian, is taking a $195,000 job as a deputy Palo Alto city manager. Flaherty had been working as an administrator for the Architect of the Capitol, a federal agency that maintains historic buildings and monuments.

Flaherty’s husband, John A. Flaherty, the ex- chief of staff to Department of Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta, the former congressman and San Jose mayor, is expected to follow his wife to the valley. We’re told that the couple has been looking at homes in the Gilroy area. John Flaherty did a stint as a principal with the influential private equity firm the Carlyle Group and has recently been the director of Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College in Washington D.C.

And lest we forget: Michelle Flaherty, a former high-ranking manager for the city of Rockville, Md., is the daughter of Marc and Terry Poche. Marc Poche, now retired and living in Texas, was an appellate judge and legal affairs assistant to Gov. Jerry Brown during his first stint as governor. Terry Poche, who lives now in Oregon, was a long-time aide to U.S. Rep. Don Edwards. In Santa Clara County politics, the pedigree doesn’t get much better.

Bay 101 food workers strike

Nearly one hundred Bay 101 food service workers went on strike last week after being told they’ll lose their jobs when the casino moves into its glitzy new digs in September.

“Bay 101 will be ceasing our Food & Beverage and Food Service operations sometime between September 18, 2017 and September 29, 2017,” stated a July 5 notice sent from the casino’s human resources to the employees. “We will be laying off the employees of these two departments. The layoff is expected to be permanent.”

Union leaders said the casino’s owners, the prominent Bumb family, decided to outsource food services when they move from their Bering Drive location to a larger site across Highway 101 on First Street.

Co-owner Brian Bumb referred questions to the club’s general manager, Ron Werner, who told IA the card room owners decided to no longer handle the food and beverage operation.

An outside company will manage it when the new Bay 101 opens. The expanded casino, which includes a two-story card room and 174-room hotel, is expected to open Sept. 14.

“We were just not good at managing food and beverage,” Werner said. “Sometimes things just change, and that’s what happened.”

About 90 food service employees will lose their jobs during the casino expansion.

“The workers feel very disappointed,” said Enrique Fernandez, business manager of UNITE HERE Local 19, which represents 120 casino housekeepers, maintenance workers and food workers. “They feel they’re not being respected by the company and given a fair severance package.”

One of those laid-off workers is Nellie Figueroa, a food server who’s worked at Bay 101 for more than a decade. The severance is two weeks of pay.

“I’ve been a loyal employee of Bay 101 and the Bumb family for nearly 15 years, and now that they have their fancy new casino I’m being thrown out with the trash,” Figueroa said. “Their future is in that new building, and now I’ll be left wondering how I’ll support my family and get by in this expensive area.”

Sixty five of the union’s members voted unanimously to authorize a strike.

No voter panic here

Nearly 4,000 Coloradans have canceled their voter registrations in the wake of the Trump administration’s request that states hand over voter information so Trump can ferret out alleged voter fraud.

But Californians don’t seem to be following suit, according to regional and state voter registrars.

A quick check with offices in Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco and Los Angeles found just a few callers worried about what kind of personal information the registrars kept on file about them.

County election officials in Colorado said voters cited two concerns: They don’t trust Trump’s voter integrity commission, and they didn’t realize how much of their voter registration information was already public under state law.

“Voters do not need to worry,’’ said Scott Konopasek, Contra Costa County’s assistant registrar, about what’s on file. For the record: it’s name, address, political party and voting district.

As of July 5, at least 44 states and the District of Columbia refused to provide certain kinds of voter information to Trump’s commission. California is among those pushing back, citing no evidence that millions of people voted illegally in the 2016 presidential election.

”When voters cancel their registration, those who seek to suppress the vote win,” California Secretary of State Alex Padilla said. “Fortunately, we have not seen a rise in California voters cancelling their registration. I strongly urge anyone who might be considering cancelling their voter registration to reconsider. We cannot allow this ill-conceived commission to intimidate eligible citizens from exercising their right to vote.”