Sierra College senate e-mail deemed legal

Comment: The political flyer that Simmons objected to was one from October 2004 in which he supported Aaron Klein and Tim Leslie for Sierra College Trustee. It's 2006 for pete's sake, and Klein and Leslie have been in office for a year and a half. Could it be that Simmons is more upset about his quote about the Placer County Grand Jury? The brochure certainly can't be considered political since it is almost 2 years old and supports an election long since over.

Rocklin Placer Herald
Sierra College senate e-mail deemed legal
Californians Aware attorney offers opinion on political controversy
By: Loryll Nicolaisen, Gold Country News Service
Wednesday, May 24, 2006 3:12 PM PDT

The Sierra College board president won't be able to shut up a staff member's attempt at free speech any time soon.

Anthony Maki Gill, Sierra classified senate president, sought the legal advice of Terry Francke, general counsel with Californians Aware, a Sacramento-based center for public forum rights. Word came out through the e-mail grapevine earlier this month that Jerry Simmons, Sierra board president, wanted Gill disciplined for distributing a political document via campus e-mail."

What he did and what he said violated no law or board policy," Francke told Gold Country Media. "I think it's a dead end. I think it was a dead end to begin with."

Simmons said that although Gill's e-mailed political flier may be technically legal, he doesn't think that it's a proper use for college technology.

After reviewing Sierra College board policy and administrative procedure, Francke found no fault in Gill's e-mail.

Gill sent a scanned copy of a campaign flier to Sierra faculty, classified staff and the college's management team following the March release of the Placer County grand jury report, which states charges made by trustee Aaron Klein against Kevin Ramirez, the then-Sierra College president, were "utterly without merit" and that Klein owed the college, community and Ramirez an apology.

The leaflet, dated Oct. 22, 2004, was mailed as a campaign flier prior to the November 2004 election. The piece supports Aaron Klein and Scott Leslie as candidates for seats on the Sierra College board of trustees. The flier's headline reads, "When the Placer County grand jury continually targets the Sierra Board of Trustees for mismanagement and abuse ... It's time for a change!" and bears the signatures of trustees Jerry Simmons and Nancy Palmer.

Gill said his purpose, as it stated in his e-mail to staff, was to offer "an appropriate visual aid as one reads the report.""There was no advocacy in my message," Gill said Tuesday. "I was just trying to pass information to staff at Sierra College."Gill said he didn't break the law because what he sent was nothing more than a historical document from a past election.

"I'm speaking out and I'm well within my rights to speak out," he said. "His allegations against me are unfounded."Francke agrees."It just seems to me that the apparent linkage between what he said and sent, and any law that I'm aware of, is non-existent," Francke said Thursday.

While Gill said he's done nothing more than provide a historical document for staff consideration, Simmons previously told the Auburn Journal he believes "in free speech for everyone but not in political campaigning..." at taxpayers' expense and said the college's e-mail system is not a proper outlet for such a document."

Even if Anthony has found a loophole that allows him to send political mailers out on the college e-mail system, I think the taxpayers would appreciate it if he would use taxpayer resources only for the purpose of educating students," Simmons said Thursday afternoon in an e-mailed statement.

"The college is asking taxpayers to fund technology upgrades through the Measure B bond so that we can educate our students more effectively, not so college employees can send more political mailers."

Word of Simmons' attempt to discipline Gill became public following a May 5 e-mail sent to trustees by Dr. Morgan Lynn, Sierra College interim president, which contained allegations of Simmons' attempts to silence staff members who are board critics. Lynn's original message caused a flurry of further e-mails throughout the Sierra College campus and community.

Lynn said Wednesday that Gill's e-mail could be considered politically motivated if the attachment was relevant for a current, not past, election process."I do hope this is over now," she said.

The Journal's Loryll Nicolaisen can be reached at mailto:lorylln@goldcountrymedia.com