10/13/2005: "Bill Appel Letter & the Judicious Response from Gaylord"

Bill Appel, evidently an experienced and skilled advocacy writer, takes honest and unassuming people unawares by beginning and ending his letter with conciliatory salutations to the Freeholders.Related Story & Letters However, this letter is not one written by a friendly intervener. The analysis it contains is presumptuous. Just the fact that the writer is a former attorney does not raise his opinion to the level of "legal" analysis. Rather, it is obvious that this letter is politically motivated and possibly a last ditch effort to derail the Charter Process. It seems that the detractors, having no substantive arguments against the Charter, are forced to resort to mere word choice technicalities to attack it.

Of course, the First Amendment to the Constitution allows Bill to indulge in intellectual exercise and express his opinions. However, his letter was sent in the form of a challenge to the County Prosecuting Attorney. The PA spent precious hours and tax dollars answering this frivolous
challenge.

Kudos to Randy Gaylord for his expedient response. Randy gives us a comprehensive legal analysis. The bottom line: The Charter (both the Basic and Amendment) is just fine as is.

Here are the facts:

1. Five attorneys including MRSC (Municipal Research Service Center) reviewed the Charter prior to its adoption by the Freeholders.

2. The record shows that the intent of the Freeholders was never in question. Never! Legislative intent is an important part of the interpretation of words in a legal document. The minutes of the public meetings recording the deliberative process are published and public. A legal scholar doing true legal analysis would have incorporated these into his analysis. An honest legal analysis would have acknowledged, where pertinent, Attorney General Opinions and Court cases that have already addressed his concerns.

3. The use of emotionally charged words like "Trojan Horse," fatally flawed," "dooms the county to chaos," "anomalous scheme," "take the County into uncharted waters," "Charter scheme deviates," and "threatens the legitimacy" confirm that this document is an advocacy paper rather than a neutral analysis by someone who, "in spite of misgivings . . .was willing to support the Charter." Compare this to the legal analysis by the PA. If Randy had taken the same tone, he would only have had to write, "Bull Shit!"

Nanae N. Nagaoka (Fralick), Esq.

(Ms. Nagaoka lives on Orcas island with her husband Richard Fralick, who is a former SJC Freeholder)