Editorial

Trustee Jim Ferryman was admirable Monday in pleading guilty to the

charge of driving under the influence and taking responsibility for his

Sept. 27 actions. Shortly after the incident, in which he was involved in

a car collision on Newport Boulevard in Costa Mesa, Ferryman admitted to

the Pilot he had “made a mistake” and was “sorry it happened.”

A longtime Costa Mesa resident, an active member of the local

community, a board member of the Costa Mesa Sanitation District and the

city’s representative on the Orange County Sanitation District board,

Ferryman has obviously done this community a lot of good. That’s why it

was extremely unfortunate when we and the community learned of Ferryman’s

DUI arrest.

Some took the Pilot to task for placing the story on the front page

and argued that the incident was Ferryman’s personal life and would not

affect his work as a trustee. Ferryman also maintained the matter was

personal when speaking to a Pilot reporter about his guilty plea.

With all due respect, we beg to differ.

When the Newport-Mesa voters elected Ferryman to the school board in

1994, he became a public figure. If the mayor of either Costa Mesa or

Newport Beach were arrested, it would make its way onto the front page as

well. The same goes for any public official or figure. The public has a

right to know, and we wouldn’t be doing our job if we ignored it.

Meanwhile, we must point out the school district has a zero-tolerance

policy for students caught abusing drugs or alcohol.

While Ferryman does not wholeheartedly support it, saying it does not

help solve the student’s problem with alcohol or drug abuse, the

district’s board majority does support it.

So we find it odd that even newly appointed board President Judy

Franco would also push the idea that Ferryman’s matter was a matter of

personal privacy.

If a student is found in violation of the zero-tolerance policy, he or

she is removed from his or her school. The student’s private life is

inconsequential, the board has decided.

The board can’t have it both ways. If Ferryman’s actions are personal,

then the student’s should be too. But as we all know, that is not the

case, so clearly there is major contradiction.

So our advice to those in the public spotlight is they should realize

that the electorate deserves to know who they’re voting into office.

And it’s our job to tell them.