Thread: Carlsbad will not seek repayment for immigration forum costs

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Illegal immigration forum price tag estimated at more than $100K

By: PHILIP K. IRELAND - Staff Writer

CARLSBAD ---- Who should pay when free speech isn't free? Mayor Bud Lewis says he thinks Sen. Bill Morrow should, and said he will bill the senator for an estimated $100,000 in police costs for providing security for a forum on illegal immigration last week.

"We're going to bill Morrow for it," Lewis vowed Wednesday afternoon.

The city has estimated that its security costs for the forum at $100,000, but the total bill for the Aug. 11 forum will probably be much more than that, Lewis said, because seven other local governments sent officers to the event. A full tally of the costs should be available next week.


The "town hall" meeting, presented by Morrow and held at the Carlsbad Cultural Arts Center at Carlsbad High School, featured a slate of speakers who talked about the negative effects of illegal immigration on the nation's heath care and educational systems, national security and the environment.

Morrow rebuffed the assertion that he should pay the costs for security at the forum.

"Those costs were not generated by me or Roger Hedgecock or the slate of speakers, but by the radical leftists, anarchists, the protesters and illegal immigrants who tried to disrupt it," Morrow said Wednesday by phone from Sacramento. "I have done dozens of these forums on dozens of issues and I've never had to deal with this." Hedgecock is a San Diego talk-radio host who moderated the event. Morrow denied any responsibility for the costs incurred by Carlsbad police and seven other law enforcement agencies that came at the request of the Carlsbad Police Department. An estimated 150 law enforcement officials from as far away as El Cajon and Chula Vista responded to the call for extra security. Police made no arrests at the forum.

"In a just world, it should be those people who caused the problem in the first place that should pay for it, and I'll certainly do what I can to identify those groups," Morrow said.

Lewis called the Morrow forum a "political gimmick" designed to give the state senator public attention as he runs to replace Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Escondido, in the 50th congressional district.

"I'm a Republican," Lewis said, "but I'm not a stupid Republican, and I resent it."

Lewis said Morrow added insult to injury by suing the school district for legal fees accrued in Morrow's suit to compel the district to allow the forum.

"My taxpayers are getting hit twice," Lewis said. "Once for the folly of the forum, and again for the suit against the district. We're getting double whammied by him."

Morrow's aides and the school district originally scheduled the forum in July. But when Carlsbad schools superintendent John Roach canceled the forum on Aug. 7, citing violence at previous events when the two groups came together, Morrow sued, claiming that his First Amendment right to free speech had been violated. Roach subsequently reinstated the forum. The controversy was widely covered in newspapers and on the daytime AM talk-radio shows.

Morrow, who advertised the forum with a flier e-mailed to supporters, blamed the resulting flap for attracting protesters that caused the need for the large police presence.

An estimated 350 audience members ---- nearly all of whom agreed with Morrow that the country is facing an immigration crisis ---- had filled the theater by 6 p.m. Aug. 11, leaving another 250 anti-illegal-immigration backers outside, unable to get a seat. About 100 pro-immigration protesters traded shouts with the anti-illegal-immigration crowd outside.

Police encircled all of the protesters while two lines of sheriff's deputies and police officers dressed in riot gear and armed with batons, shotguns and sidearms kept the two groups apart. Protesters on both sides shouted slogans at one another through the police line.

Councilman Matt Hall said he felt a lot of "hate" in the air when he drove by the event. He commended both the police department and Roach, saying Roach was put in a tough position.

"I think he did a very good job in representing the school at what may or may not be allowed at the school," Hall said.

A full accounting of costs to Carlsbad and other agencies is expected next week, said Carlsbad Police Captain Mike Shipley.

Oh know he shouldn't pay, if anyone pays. It should be those anti-American groups that are starting all the trouble in the first place. here is one that they could bill.

THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT.

Where is the ACLU at shouldn't they be screaming he has the right to free speech and I mean Free speech.

Oh yeah the ACLU only will come to the defense of Illegals and groups that want to destroy America.

Who should pay when free speech isn't free? Mayor Bud Lewis says he thinks Sen. Bill Morrow should, and said he will bill the senator for an estimated $100,000 in police costs for providing security for a forum on illegal immigration last week.

Mr. Mayor is a real jackdonkey. Complain about the pro-illegal crowd--they were the ones causing the problems.

Americans as non citizens are not allowed to engage in political activity by Mexican law. Should illegal residents in America have a right that Americans in Mexico do not? Should illegal residents in Carlsbad have a right that our American citizens there do not?

Carlsbad City Hall
Tel: 1-760-434-2830

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Carlsbad will not seek repayment for immigration forum costs

By: PHILIP K. IRELAND - Staff Writer

CARLSBAD ---- By a slim majority, Carlsbad City Council members decided Tuesday against billing state Sen. Bill Morrow for the costs of maintaining the peace during the Aug. 11 anti-illegal immigration forum held in the city.

The 3-2 decision, which did not come to an official vote, effectively ends the public spat between Mayor Bud Lewis and Morrow, organizer of the "simple town hall meeting" that required 384 public safety officials to ensure peace.

Lewis and Councilwoman Anne Kulchin said they wanted to go after Morrow for the money. Council members Matt Hall, Mark Packard and Norine Sigafoose dissented.

"The issue that caused (the need for officers) was a free-speech issue, and as a city we must defend that," said Packard, adding that he was "not comfortable" with sending Morrow the bill.

For Sigafoose, principles took a back seat to common sense.

"Is it a fairness issue? Maybe. Can we collect? Probably not," she said, calling an attempt to collect money from Morrow "an exercise in futility."

In introducing the issue to the council, Lewis proposed billing the senator $360,000 ---- the total estimated cost of all personnel from eight law enforcement agencies that answered Carlsbad's call for help on Aug 11.

According to the Carlsbad Police Department's tally of the costs, 384 public safety officials from across the county ---- officers, firefighter-paramedics, a doctor, and various other officials ---- played roles in maintaining the peace on the night of the immigration forum.

Armed officers in riot gear kept about 75 open-border advocates separate from about 250 illegal-immigration foes who could not get into the Carlsbad Community Cultural Arts Center, the site of the forum. Both sides shouted slogans at each other throughout the evening. Inside, 350 people listened to a one-sided slate of conservative speakers and their views on the economic, health and security impacts of illegal immigration.

While Carlsbad police maintained peace inside the theater, more than 300 county sheriff's deputies and officers from El Cajon, La Mesa, Chula Vista, Oceanside, National City, San Diego and the California Highway Patrol kept protesters apart outside.

Those agencies sent officers under the terms of a "mutual aid" request. Under the mutual aid agreement, each agency is responsible for its own costs. Carlsbad is under no obligation to repay the other agencies.

Calling his motivation to seek repayment one of "fairness and integrity," Lewis said Morrow admitted to shopping around for the best deal for a venue to hold his forum. Lewis said Morrow "found a loop(hole) in the system" that he exploited at the expense of the Carlsbad Unified School District, the operator of the theater where the forum was held, and at the expense of the city and its taxpayers.

"He's a clever politician ... and a kind of Slick Willy who knows how to move and maneuver," Lewis said.

Kulchin balked at Lewis' idea to bill Morrow for all $360,000 in costs, but said she would support a bill for the roughly $62,000 in expenses the city of Carlsbad incurred.

Kulchin said she was motivated by fairness. Other events in the city such as the Octoberfest sponsored by the Rotary Club and the Fiesta Del Barrio were required to pay security fees and other city costs, she said.

"If the Rotary (and) if the Barrio have to come up with the money, then I think (Morrow) should too," Kulchin said.

Councilman Matt Hall said he hoped the mayor would try to rebuild a relationship with Morrow, and said he hoped the senator would drop his lawsuit against the Carlsbad Unified School District. That suit seeks repayment of legal fees incurred by Morrow as he fought the school district's bid to deny use of the Carlsbad Community Cultural Arts Center for the forum.