Government Access Channel

I've been asking the City of El Cajon about their public access channel, Channel 24. Here is the schedule I received:

The City airs the Bulletin Board at 9:30am, 2pm & 7pm daily, except on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

The City Council meetings can be viewed on Wednesdays at 7pm and the Grossmont Union School District can be viewed at 4pm on Thursday.

Schedule of videos which represent America’s forgotten history and heroes, with an emphasis on our constitutional heritage is on air as follows:

Day	Program	Times
Monday	Keys to Good Government	10:00am -11:00am, 3:00pm - 5:00pm
Monday	The Role of Pastors and Christians	8:00pm - 9:00pm
Friday	Keys to Good Government	10:00am -11:00am, 3:00pm - 5:00pm
Friday	The Role of Pastors and Christians	8:00pm - 9:00pm
Saturday and Sunday	American History in Black and White	10:00am - 12:00pm, 3:00pm - 5:00pm
Saturday and Sunday	Spirit of American Revolution	8:00pm - 9:00pm

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I find it amazing that this City is airing a program to train Pastors and Christians! What about other religions! Why should this be paid for by the City!

The American History in Black and White goes back to the 1850s and recounts why the Republicans were the good guys and the Democrats were always against integration. This is true, but it is a far cry from the situation today. This is an outrage!

According to the National Coalition Against Censorship (http://www.ncac.org/action_issues/Public_Spaces.cfm):

In order to be constitutionally valid, a regulation of expression in a public space must be viewpoint-neutral, leave adequate alternative avenues of communication, and be narrowly tailored to meet a substantial government interest. Government interests may include public health and safety, historical preservation, and promotion of tourism. Such government regulations of speech are called time, place, and manner restrictions.

Original Approval of Videos

The following excerpts are from the minutes of City Council meetings. You can read the entire minutes if you wish, the are all Here...

It seems clear enough that additional funding was approved for the videos, and the Video Producer then charged this amount up to the present. They are trying to avoid the fact that this funding was specifically for those videos. They claim they will not save the money, although the videos have been pulled as of Oct 3, 2006, according to the City Manager.

May 14, 2002 City Council Meeting

MAYOR PRO TEM BOB McCLELLAN

6.1 POLICY FOR PROGRAMMING ON CITY GOVERNMENT ACCESS CHANNEL

RECOMMENDATION: That the City Council request the City Attorney to draft a Policy for programming on the City’s Government Access Channel.

MOTION BY McClellan, SECOND BY Lewis to direct staff to look into a policy for programming on City Government Access Channel.

MOTION CARRIES BY UNANIMOUS VOTE.

Dec 3, 2002 City Council Meeting

3.4 DRAFT CITY COUNCIL POLICY ON THE USE OF THE GOVERNMENT ACCESS CHANNEL FOR BROADCAST TO CABLE CUSTOMERS IN THE CITY OF EL CAJON (Report: Assistant City Manager)

RECOMMENDATION: That the City Council review and approve the City Council Policy which sets forth guidelines for use of the Government Access Channel under the City's Cable Television franchise agreement. Mayor Lewis discusses possible changes to the policy such as order of preference, broadcasting perimeter relating to educational programming, and cautions that religion cannot legally be promoted. He suggests DVD usage to record City Council meetings rather than VHS tapes because storage space is a factor.

Councilmember McClellan recommends usage for educational purposes and not as a public access channel.

City Manager Garrett advises the review process for access should include an appeal procedure. Council could then review items being appealed. Historical education items might include some religious content, but this should not disqualify the item if it is historical.

Councilmember Ramos remarks on future downloading of Minutes onto CDs at lesser cost. City Attorney Foley remarks that Minutes should be provided in the type of format requested, if we have the capability. The fee should reflect the cost of duplicating only and not the set up.

MOTION BY McClellan, SECOND BY Lewis, to bring back the policy as soon as possible with the comments and suggestions discussed today.

MOTION CARRIES BY UNANIMOUS VOTE.

Dec 12, 2002 City Council Meeting

3.7 DRAFT CITY COUNCIL POLICY ON THE USE OF THE GOVERNMENT ACCESS CHANNEL FOR BROADCAST TO CABLE CUSTOMERS IN THE CITY OF EL CAJON (Report: Assistant City Manager) (Continued from 12/3/02, Item 3.4)

RECOMMENDATION: That the City Council review and approve the attached City Council Policy which sets forth guidelines for use of the government Access Channel under the City's Cable television franchise agreement.

City Manager Garrett informs the revisions were made, as previously recommended, and a section on Appeals has been added.

MOTION BY McClellan, SECOND BY Lewis, to adopt the policy.
MOTION CARRIES BY UNANIMOUS VOTE.

Nov 18, 2003 City Council Meeting

3.1 ADDITIONAL BROADCASTS OF AMERICAN HERITAGE VIDEOS (Report: City Manager)

RECOMMENDATION: That the City Council consider if it wishes to increase the number of broadcasts of the America's Godly Heritage videos and, if so, appropriate $2800 for the remainder of the fiscal year from the unappropriated General Fund Reserve.

DISCUSSION Councilmember McClellan speaks in support of the recommendation.
Councilmember Ramos expresses concerns of religious promotion by airing the videos, and supports separation of State and church.
Discussion ensues among Council and Staff concerning:

• Potential liability for lawsuits
• Historical value of the videos
• Budget concerns

MOTION BY McClellan, SECOND BY Lewis, to approve the recommendation for $2800 from the General Fund Reserve for the rest of the fiscal year.

AYES: Kendrick, Lewis, McClellan, Santos
NOES: Ramos.
MOTION CARRIES.

(Note: Appropriation was for the "Rest of the fiscal year", seven months. At $400 per month, the actual expenditure is $4800 per year.)

Proof of expenditure

The City has provided unquestionable proof that taxpayer dollars were spent on this channel.

• SummaryOfInvoices - Here we summarize the many invoices and financial records related to this activity.

Actions Taken

• Reference Documents: City_of_El_Cajon_Policy_A-25_Use_of_Government_Access_Channel.rtf: City Policy A-25 regarding Govt. Access Channel
• Reference Document: History_of_Government_Access_Channel.pdf: History of the Government Access Channel (City Council Discussion)
• Reference Document: City_of_El_Cajon_Policy_A-2_regarding_City_Council_Meetings_and_Agenda.rtf: City Council Policy A-2 -- City Council Meetings and Agenda
• 25-Sep-2006: Letter_to_City_of_El_Cajon_requesting_Channel_Logs.pdf: Request of Channel Logs that are kept according to the City Policy
• 26-Sep-2006: Letter_to_City_of_El_Cajon_requesting_The_Big_Buy.pdf: Requested Discontinuing Biased videos, airing of "The Big Buy", and ECDC on bulletin board.
• 27-Sep-2006: Letter_to_City_of_El_Cajon_requesting_Financial_Detail_on_Ch_24.pdf: Request for additional financial breakdown of $25,725
• 04-Oct-2006: Called City Clerk and requested status
• 04-Oct-2006: ResponseFromCityonGovtAccessChnl.pdf: Response from letter requesting discontinuing of films and Big Buy film
• 04-Oct-2006: Schedule_of_Airings_in_September_on_Govt_access_Channel.pdf: Response to letter requesting logs (Logs not provided) Additionally, detail of the Bulletin Board channel was provided, the current list of frames and a photocopy of each one. There did not seem to be any violation of City Council Policy with regard to the Bulletin Board. But the absence of the daily logs points to a possible cover-up.
• 04-Oct-2006: Letter_to_City_of_El_Cajon_requesting_Channel_Logs2.pdf: Second request for logs
• 06-Oct-2006: Financial Information on Govt Access Channel: PDF, About 22MB.
• Letter_to_City_of_El_Cajon_requesting_Detail_cox_contract.pdf: Request of detail on Cox contract

The following documents will be provided to the City Council and will request that they publish these prominently on the the City website:

• A_Critique_of_David_Bartons_Views_on_Church_and_State.pdf: The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty slams Barton's films
• Top_ten_lies_about_church_and_state.pdf: J. Brent Walker, "Answering the Top 10 Lies About Church and State", Lecture at McAfee School of Theology, September 7, 2005
• 11 Oct 2006: Remarks_to_City_Council,_10-10-2006.pdf: Remarks of Raymond Lutz at 10/10/2006 City Council Meeting
• 18 Oct 2006: Proposal_to_City_Council_for_10-24-06_meeting_FINAL.pdf: Written Communication to City Council for 24 Oct 2006 meeting
• 20 Oct 2006: Letter_to_City_of_El_Cajon_objecting_to_refusal_to_place_item_on_agenda.pdf: 20 Oct 2006 - Letter to City of El Cajon objecting to refusal to place item on agenda
• 30 Oct 2006: CEC008_10-30-06_Letter_to_City_of_El_Cajon_on_open_issues.pdf: Letter to City Clerk and City Manager requesting status of earlier requests
• 14 Mar 2007: Submitted request for Grand Jury investigation to the Public Integrity Unit of the San Diego County District Attorney's office, prosecutor Leon Schorr.
• 10 Apr 2007: Public Comment at City Council Meeting: Introduced the Treaty of Tripoli to prove that the US was not founded as a Christian nation. See http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/treaty_tripoli.html

Media Coverage, Keyword=GovernmentAccessChannel

• Religious, political videos pulled from city-owned TV after Democrats complain -- Miriam Raftery, Raw Story, 2006-10-16 features Raymond Lutz
• EC council marries church and state on Channel 24 -- Miriam Raftery, East County Californian, 2006-10-19 Features Raymond Lutz
• THE EL CAJON MAN WHOSE PROTESTS PROMPTED THE CITY TO REMOVE RELIGIOUS PROGRAMS... -- Wade Douglas, Raymond Lutz, KOGO Radio, 2006-10-25 Features Raymond Lutz
• El Cajon's Government Access Channel caused controversy -- Raymond Lutz, KOGO TV, 2006-10-25
• America's Godly Heritage: El Cajon's government access channel is stirring up some controversy -- Raymond Lutz, KOGO TV, 2006-10-26
• Council denies Dems request to agendize item -- Joseph Pena, East County Californian, 2006-10-26 Features Raymond Lutz
• El Cajon yanks religious programs off city channel -- Liz Neely, Union Tribune, 2006-10-26 Features Raymond Lutz
• El Cajon shuns light on government by crony -- Raymond Lutz, Union Tribune, 2007-02-22

Cops Tips for Project Government Access Channel

ID	Name	Project	Request	Request Date	Tip Entity	Tip Status
T00001	Monitor Video Logs	Government Access Channel	Please provide logs since 11/2006	2007-06	City Of El Cajon	Returned
T00002	Review Tom Black Contract	Government Access Channel	Provide Contract Details		City Of El Cajon	Returned
T00003	Logs not being kept	Government Access Channel	Request that the City Attorney provide a legal definition for “Log” versus “Schedule”.	2007-06-04	City Of El Cajon	Closed
T00004	Review of Govt Access Channel	Government Access Channel	Resubmitted the proposal during “Public Comment” portion of the meeting.	2007-06-04	City Of El Cajon	Requested

-- Raymond Lutz - 04 Oct 2006