Kern supervisors wrong to derail COVID contract
No matter how hard some people try, the gravity of the state attorney general’s proposed settlement agreement to protect Kern County citizens’ constitutional rights cannot be ignored.
When in 2020, the Kern County Board of Supervisors majority derailed a critical COVID-19 contract because of their political interests, free speech and civil rights activists, as well as this newspaper, protested. Those protests were heard by Attorney General Rob Bonta, who embarked on a yearslong investigation of Kern County’s contracting procedures. Bonta concluded supervisors had violated local organizations’ constitutional rights.
The settlement agreement between the state and Kern County, which awaits final court approval, requires the county to adopt and post an appropriate free-speech policy, designate someone to coordinate related complaints and provide training on the topic every year to supervisors and other staff. A thirdparty free-speech expert will oversee enforcement of the agreement.
In a news release, Bonta said supervisors for political reasons had wrongly singled out groups involved in the 2020 contract talks. He said based on supervisors’ own statements, there was evidence of previous violations and future ones.
In its own press release, Kern responded, “After careful consideration, the county opted to enter into a stipulated judgment to resolve this dispute and allow the county to move forward and continue to focus on the many important matters the county handles every day.”
Noting the agreement includes no financial penalties, county officials called it an important tool in being a model of excellence in how to manage its business and workforce.
Pardon us, but the county’s word-salad press release was like putting a bit of lipstick on the pig of a mess supervisors made of a contract that was intended to save lives, particularly in low-income, disadvantaged communities.
The contract dispute began simple enough. Funded by a state grant, Kern County moved forward with awarding a $1.2 million contract to Building Healthy Communities Kern to conduct outreach and encourage COVID fighting in vulnerable communities.
The organization is a nonprofit coalition of grassroots community groups established more than a decade ago with the backing of the California Endowment. Because of the urgent need, the county’s Public Health Services Department requested supervisors approve the contract. Health officials had already started working with the group and training participants, including multilingual canvassers, who spoke Spanish, Mixteco and Punjabi.
In a 2020 article published in a local newspaper, 4th District Supervisor David Couch, whose district includes many of the communities requiring special attention, lauded the coalition’s COVID outreach plans: “We’ve identified some things that might truly help improve awareness and are taking next steps to make this happen.”
But when the contract came before supervisors for approval, 2nd District Supervisor Zack Scrivner asked that it be taken off the consent calendar, which is a listing of routine matters that do not require discussion.
Scrivner objected to the county approving a contract with what he called a “radical” organization that supported defunding law enforcement. In the wake of outrage over George Floyd’s murder at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, coalition members posted on Facebook that more tax dollars should be spent on social programs, rather than on law enforcement.
Kern County is “not Seattle,” Scrivner argued, expressing concern over how local law enforcement would feel about the county contracting with a group that had called for defunding police. “This is where we … want more resources to go to law enforcement.”
Former supervisors Mike Maggard, District 3, and Mick Gleason, District 1, supported Scrivner’s move to derail the coalition’s contract. Only 5th District Supervisor Leticia Perez spoke in opposition. Believing the contract’s approval was routine, Couch missed attending the meeting.
Going beyond the coalition’s contract dispute, the state subpoenaed more than 12 million pages of documents. At the time, Kern County Counsel Margo Raison expressed confidence that “the practices of the county are in keeping with all federal and state laws and regulations.”
She was wrong. In addition to protecting constitutional free speech rights, good sense and common decency should have kept supervisors — and their legal adviser — from derailing a much-needed contract because of personal animosities.