The Arcata Eye
http://www.arcataeye.com/opinion/030804opinion02.shtml
Opinions: August 4, 2003
Speaking of checks, Roger, check your facts
By Hank Sims
It is a rare journalist who enjoys being the subject of a story, especially when the story has a whiff of scandal about it. I am grateful, though, that both local reporters who have written about l'affaire Check-For-$1,000, from the Times-Standard and the North Coast Journal, emphasized that I did not solicit or accept outside payment for an article I did for the Eye and other local newspapers.
Equally, and judging from his public comments, I am grateful that Second District Supervisor Roger Rodoni, whose business relationship with Pacific Lumber was the subject of that article ("A SoHum super's sweet setup with Pacific Lumber," June 9), likewise accepts the fact that I didn't take any outside money for doing it.
But in a letter printed in the July 31 edition of the North Coast Journal, Rodoni has challenged - for the first time, to my knowledge - the factual accuracy of the article. Why this comes nearly two months after the story ran, and why it was not sent to the papers that carried the story, is something of a mystery. Rodoni's critique of the article is unfounded in at least three particulars, though, and readers of the Eye deserve to hear why.
1. Rodoni charges that I "grossly exaggerated" the size of the home and the acreage he leases from Pacific Lumber at Rainbow Ranch. But both are matters of public record.
In regards to the house, records in the Humboldt County assessor's office say that it is 1,872 square feet in size (1,296 square feet on the first floor, 576 on the second), with three bedrooms and one bathroom and that it was built in 1959. I suppose it is possible that this house has been damaged or downsized over the years and that Pacific Lumber has not notified the tax collector. But even if that is so, my reporting was not a "gross exaggeration" but a good-faith attempt to get the facts - and I will happily correct this or any other piece of my story if given proof that it is inaccurate.
It's a bit more puzzling to hear Rodoni challenge the figure I reported for the total acreage included in his lease of Rainbow Ranch. In fact, when I asked him, before the story came out, if the number I had got from comparing his lease to the assessor's maps - around 9,000 acres - was accurate, he told me that it "sounded about right." Perhaps his current objection is that that figure includes timberland as well as pasture, which he uses for grazing cattle. If so, I would remind him that I included in my story his own estimate of the amount of grassland at the ranch - around 3,000 acres. In any case, the lease details which county parcels are included in the property and the county assessor's maps give the size of those parcels. There really is very little room for dispute.
2. The Fair Political Practices Commission is indeed "the law," as Rodoni writes, and it is indeed for the FPPC alone to determine whether he contravened the Political Reform Act when he voted against the district attorney's request to hire outside counsel for the county's suit against Pacific Lumber.
I stated so explicitly in my article.
Rodoni is wrong, though, when he states that the FPPC has cleared him of any conflict of interest. In the first letter he received from the commission, the FPPC's Advice Division said that he had no conflict of interest - provided he pays "full and adequate consideration for the lease of the property."
The second letter from the Advice Division, which Rodoni received in late May, long after the vote had been called, was in response to Rodoni's request for help in determining what "fair and adequate consideration" would be. The letter said that the FPPC did not give advice on actions already taken. It said, furthermore, that the FPPC's Enforcement Division - which is charged with investigating past actions - was currently studying "the same or very similar issues."
I have no reason to doubt that Rodoni has honestly attempted to ascertain his rights and duties as an elected official in regards to this issue. It is to his credit that he made an effort to seek counsel about figuring out what a fair market value for the lease would be. However, it is incorrect for him to suggest that the FPPC has exonerated him - that is for the FPPC's Enforcement Division to determine, and as yet they have not acted one way or the other.
3. Rodoni writes that "there are cheaper per-animal unit rents in this county," which I do not dispute, and suggests that the North Coast Journal contact an HSU range management professor "for enlightenment as to how fees are charged for ranch conditions and cow pasture."
The thrust of Rodoni's argument here seems to be that the fair worth of his lease of Rainbow Ranch should be based solely on its ability to support livestock. This seems disingenuous. The ranch is more than a place for Rodoni to park his cattle - as the Journal has reported, it is also a second home and a place to hunt pig, among other things. If he utilizes the ranch for these purposes, it is only reasonable to take these purposes into account when figuring its value.
Finally, it is unfortunate that Rodoni chooses to characterize my story as a "hit piece," thereby personalizing what should not be taken personally. I have no particular animus against Rodoni's politics, and I may as well say for the record that I thoroughly enjoyed the hour or so he and I spent talking about this and many other matters. But just as the public rightly frowns on reporters who take payola, so it should frown on those who let their affections interfere with their job.
Hank Sims is a rare journalist - and now works for the North Coast Journal.
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Follow up - it is important to note that after all the attacks, after the filing of FPPC complaints, Roger Rodoni was cleared by the FPPC. (Hank Sims also became the editor of the North Coast Journal.)
2/17/05 North Coast Journal RODONI CLEARED:
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