Open Letter to the North Coast Community

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Open Letter to the North Coast Community

by David Gurney

On Thursday and Friday, Oct. 27 & 28, Attorney Peter Martin and I travelled to Santa Rosa, California, where we gave and received depositions, at the plush law offices of Tarkington, O’Neill, Barrack and Chong.

It’s the type of place you could lose your soul in, if you spend too many days inside.

In April 2010, I was arrested at meeting of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) "Initiative," a process to create so-called "marine protected areas" on the California Coast.

I had previously been identified as a troublemaker, in behind-closed-door meetings of top level MLPAI staff, for expressing opposition to the the privately funded process.

I had decided to shut my mouth, and unobtrusively make a historical record of the proceedings, as is my legal right. The MLPAI staff consistently and repeatedly – approached, threatened, accosted, and finally arrested me. I had done nothing wrong or illegal, and each and every time – the contact was initiated by them, to illegally force me to stop openly recording.

I was then accused of intentionally trying to disrupt their meetings.

Eric Poncelet the “facilitator” for the MLPAI, has hired the Tarkington law firm to defend himself against our lawsuit.

And oh yeah – and Mr. Poncelet is now counter-suing us. Apparently Kearns and West is paying for it for his legal action..

Meanwhile, Ken Wiseman, the head honcho of this fiasco, a “private contractor” paid for by a “Resources Legacy Fund Foundation,” is being represented by the state attorney general. How a private contractor can break the law, and then be represented by the State of California is beyond me, but you can be sure they have an explanation for it. And apparently the reaches of corruption engendered by the MLPA Initiative knows no bounds.

It has been learned that Mr. Wiseman ordered the arrest, carried out by Eric Bloom, a game warden who was being paid with tax dollars to provide armed “security” at completely peaceful community meetings. He is also now on the state’s legal tab to defend him on his unlawful arrest.

The two lawyers we're facing are David Hamilton of the Attorney General’s office and the crusty Chris Tarkington.

In defending their criminal conduct, the wrongdoers are being represented by two teams of high powered attorneys, one state, one private. I guess this is another “public/private partnership.”

Both Poncelet and Wiseman spent the better part of yesterday again arguing that by calling a public meeting a “workshop,” you can make your own rules and violate California Law and the U.S. Constitution. Many thought in the Spring of 2010 that Kearns and West and the MLPAI had a change of heart, and had decided to abide by the law.

This is not the case. They are again playing blame-the-victim, falsely accusing me of “disrupting” the proceedings in their ongoing perversion of truth, justice and the legal system.

The Marine Life Protection Act Initiative conducted North Coast meetings in blatant violation of California’s Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Laws, and the First Amendment of the United States. They claimed – and are again trying to claim – that public meetings were so-called “workshops” – to be held without public comment, and that the press was not allowed to take pictures or record. This is a violation of the law. Now they are seeking permission to continue violating the law.

We are trying to make it clear to the super-wealthy funders of this Initiative that they are not going to be allowed to disrespect this community, and destroy a family who happen to believe in the principles of law this country was founded upon. I am seeking community support to make sure this does not happen again, to anyone.

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