Yavapai Community College President Lisa Rhine and District 2 Rep. Deb McCasland are continuing the unconstitutional attacks on college officials — but this time, their joint assault is not directed at college staffers under threat of termination, but directly aimed at you: Taxpayers and voters.
A year ago, McCasland sent a letter to college staff warning them to ignore criticism of college leadership and attempting to defend the board’s recent unconstitutional policy that endeavors to limit their free speech. She falsely claimed that “As the District Governing board chair and spokesperson, only I can release public statements about board actions,” which was patently untrue. Any and all board members can speak about those actions at their pleasure.
All elected officials from lowly road taxing districts to members of Congress have free speech rights guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and can certainly speak in their official capacity, even — and especially — if it contradicts the majority. If their opinions are in the minority after a vote, that’s democracy.
In fact, legislators — which members of the Yavapai Community College Governing Board are — have an extra right the rest of us Americans do not: Parliamentary immunity, rooted in the U.S. Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause that explicitly protects additional actions related to their public speech, voting and work.
Despite that clear and present defense of free speech, now petty baron McCasland and the board’s subordinate employee — Rhine — want to force Governing Board members to sign what she falsely calls a “Code of Ethics,” but is in fact a dictatorial edict that would threaten board members’ inalienable right to speak with college staff, voters and taxpayers.
The college Governing Board’s new Policy 310 explicitly prohibits board members from speaking to the press “in any way that reflects negatively on their colleagues, the president or the college.” This is such a textbook imposition of prior restraint on speech — a government-ordered censorship on expression before it occurs, that it should be in a Yavapai Community College textbook, but it’s clear from Rhine and McCasland’s actions that any Constitutional Law class was struck from the college catalogue long ago.
Policy 310 also discriminates based on the content and viewpoint of speech, allowing only positive statements while overtly suppressing any criticism. Content-based restrictions fail strict scrutiny review by the courts. McCasland’s tyrannical “code” is an autocratic farce: It has no force of law and openly violates the U.S. Constitution, Arizona State Constitution and it, on its face, unethical unenforceable — elected officials forever retain their First Amendment rights and cannot be compelled in any way to ever sign away their ability to communicate with the public or media.
Rhine and McCasland’s czarist mandate of loyalty also requires that Governing Board members provide “visible support” for Rhine and forces officials to engage in government-mandated speech. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that compelling people on how to speak violates the First Amendment, especially in public debate. Elected officials cannot be required to publicly support positions or individuals — like Rhine — they may legitimately disagree with.
Imagine if an employee told her owners: “You hired me to run your store. You can talk among yourselves, but when I make a decision about how to run your store, you can’t voice any objection to what I do.” That employee would be out on her tuchus in minutes. But McCasland and her allies on the Governing Board who follow along with this don’t appear to know how elected governments work and betray their own voters in the process.
By forbidding Governing Board members from speaking with college staff, the “code” prevents elected representatives from communicating with constituents just because that happen to work for the college. Elected officials’ duties are to represent and communicate with constituents and cannot be superseded by any administrative policy, no matter what lipstick is applied to that pig the college calls “policy.”
Governing Board members have a legal and fiduciary duty to provide oversight, identify and address problems and represent voters and taxpayers. They are legally obligated to fight for voters and taxpayers in their districts, including those who collect a college paycheck.
McCasland certainly doesn’t fight for her Camp Verde voters — she allows the college to steal their tax dollars to enrich the Prescott campuses. She needs to be ousted or recalled for that failure.
The “code” is not governance but theater, and it’s insulting that it’s the product of an educational institution — where inquiry and free open debate are paramount, even at the junior college level. District 3’s Toby Payne and District 1’s Bill Kiel — who both refused to sign — are undoubtedly the only college officials properly fulfilling their constitutional duties and obligations to their constituents. Their resistance to this autocracy protects the rights of voters of taxpayers. They are resisting Rhine and McCasland’s dictate on your behalf.
