Houchen critics have their own conflicts

John Earl

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry over the attempts by some

current City Council members to distance themselves from former

Huntington Beach mayor Pam Julien Houchen, who faces a possible

prison sentence for alleged corruption, but their chastisements are

diverting attention away from the more deeply rooted issues that face

the residents of our city.

Stretching credulity to the limit, Councilwoman Cathy Green told

the Independent that what happened to Houchen wouldn’t happen to the

rest of the city council members in “a million years” because “most

of us simply don’t have these kinds of conflicts” (“Newsmaker of the

year,” Dec. 30). Equally absurd, Councilman Don Hansen repeatedly

posited himself during his recent successful city council campaign as

a corruption terminator whose fresh moral glow will restore integrity

to city government.

But anyone who has looked at their campaign financial reports

knows that Green and Hanson both relied heavily on tens of thousands

of dollars of special interest money to launch their political

careers. Houchen may have broken the law, but our worst problems

derive not from occasional overt corruption, but from politicians who

win office by favoring those who favor them with large and legal

political conversion fees.

It’s because of that spoils system that we have an abundance of

government subsidized hotel rooms in the city but a lack of

affordable housing, health care and living wages for the people who

clean them -- not because Pam Houchen allegedly cheated the city out

of condo-conversion fees. It’s because of that system, not Houchen’s

alleged crimes, that we have an absurd $30-million pension fund

deficit that will be financed upon the backs of those living in our

city least able to afford it.

While some offer moral platitudes instead of real reform, others

skirt around the main issues by demanding cruel and unusual

punishment. Councilman Dave Sullivan wants to “throw the book” at

Houchen. If he means what he says, he wants Houchen to get a 90-year

prison sentence and to be separated from her three young children for

life. Sadly, from my point of view, even some local progressives

follow that puritanical line.

I’m not making excuses for Houchen or anyone else involved in

Huntington Beach’s latest scandal. Nobody should be let off the hook.

Nor should the taxpayers be punished by having to pay for unnecessary

prison sentences. If the accused are found guilty, I hope that the

court can impose a humane sentence that will benefit our city rather

than serve as a distraction from the need for fundamental reform in a

political process that increasingly favors the wealthiest few while

slowly but surely disenfranchising the rest.

As I pointed out in my recent city council campaign, don’t look to

those who sit on top of that system to make the changes. Reform must

be a grass-roots effort.

* JOHN EARL is a Huntington Beach resident. To contribute to

“Sounding Off,” e-mail us at [email protected] or fax us at (714)

966-4667.