School Board Drops GOP Strategist's Offer to Be Parliamentarian : Government: Critics contend that the proposal by Steve Frank was an attempt by conservatives to consolidate their power.

School Board Drops GOP Strategist’s Offer to Be Parliamentarian : Government: Critics contend that the proposal by Steve Frank was an attempt by conservatives to consolidate their power.

By CATHERINE SAILLANT

Oct. 31, 1995 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

After hearing critics deride the proposal as a thinly veiled attempt to consolidate conservative power, the Ventura County Board of Education declined Monday to appoint GOP strategist Steve Frank as its parliamentarian.

Frank, a key organizer of several conservative causes in Ventura County, had offered to serve as an unpaid adviser, clarifying rules of order for the twice-monthly board meetings.

The trustees briefly considered a motion by Trustee John McGarry to appoint a member of the board as a parliamentarian if one was to be selected. But that motion lost 4 to 1. The question of whether to place Frank in the post never came to a vote, because no one made a formal motion to that effect.

“Measure dies for lack of a motion,” board President Wendy Larner said.

Trustee Marty Bates said the president should be the parliamentarian for the board.

“I cannot support appointing anybody,” Bates said. “I respect Mr. Frank’s qualifications . . . but I firmly believe that this is a wrong thing to do.”

Larner, who placed the item on the agenda, spoke in favor of Frank’s appointment but in the end deferred to her council colleagues. Before the meeting, Larner said that something must be done to rein in the bitter exchanges between board members and the audience that have marked meetings in recent months.

And she said she needs help keeping the meetings on track, so they don’t drag on for hours with little business accomplished.

“We have people that speak out of order and it is a difficult thing to concentrate on an agenda and control a meeting at the same time,” Larner said.

Frank approached her with the idea of serving as unpaid parliamentarian after the September board meeting, Larner said. She was intrigued by the idea and agreed to place it on the agenda for the board’s consideration, she said.

“I have not had a lot of experience and training as a parliamentarian,” said Larner, a homemaker who won her seat in 1991. “I just want to have some place to question the propriety of [some] actions at our meetings.”

Larner said she is particularly concerned about a handful of board critics who attend each meeting and often use the time set aside for public comment to criticize her and other conservative trustees.

These opponents often speak out of order, she said. But Michael Shapiro, an Ojai resident who regularly takes aim at Larner, Angela Miller and Bates, said that Larner was seeking only to receive favorable advice on rules of order from someone with a like-minded political philosophy.

Shapiro said it also was inappropriate to even consider Frank, who is running for the 38th Assembly District seat in the state Legislature.

“That Wendy Larner would even think of asking him to be a parliamentarian is either evidence of her complete lack of judgment, or she just intentionally wants to perpetuate the controversy that she is always seemingly at the center of.”

The president of an elected body traditionally serves as its parliamentarian, making sure meetings move along efficiently and that motions are made legally.

Although larger government bodies, such as the state Legislature and the U.S. Congress, have designated parliamentarians, it is rare for locally elected boards to use them.

“What you are in essence telling the community is that you are not prepared to run these meetings,” said Carla Kurachi, a five-year member of the Simi Valley Unified School District Board of Education. “That’s a pretty sad commentary.”

Camarillo resident Joe Gavron presented Larner with his 1935 copy of Cushing’s Manual of Parliamentary Procedure. “I couldn’t find Roberts Rules of Order,” he said.

Frank said he has practiced Robert’s Rules of Order for 30 years as the head of several organizations, including Toastmasters, the Girl Scout Councils of California and the California Republican Assembly.

He is also familiar with the Brown Act, the state laws governing public meetings, and the county school board’s standing rules. He decided to offer his services, Frank said, after observing several violations of Robert’s Rules at last month’s board meeting.

People sitting in the audience, for instance, would stand up and shout, “Point of Order!” Frank said.

“Only board members can make points of order,” he said. “The audience cannot.”

Frank dismissed claims that he made the offer only to pump up his campaign for the seat in the state Legislature or to favor a particular faction.

“A parliamentarian should never be getting their name in the paper for these activities,” Frank said. “This is a professional position where you advise the president of the board and the board members do as they please.”