Former Fresno Unified School District trustee Brooke Ashjian has been kicked off of the Measure C steering committee.
Ashjian has been critical of the recent move to give social justice activists a dozen seats at the table in crafting Fresno County’s half-cent sales tax renewal.
The big picture: Fresno Council of Governments (FresnoCOG) Executive Director Robert Phipps sent an email to Ashjian on Thursday telling him that he has been removed from the Measure C steering committee.
- Phipps said steering committee members were briefed on “ground rules” for participation during the first meeting in April.
- Per Phipps, the rules “included behaving in a civil manner regarding disagreements and not publicly denigrating or airing grievances against the process.”
- Phipps told Ashjian that FresnoCOG “has no choice but to remove” him from the committee because of multiple recent media appearances where he criticized the steering committee process.
- Ashjian was appointed by Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer to represent the city on the steering committee.
The backstory: FresnoCOG and the Fresno County Transportation Authority are trying to put the Measure C renewal on next year’s ballot before the tax expires in 2027.
- Social justice group Fresno Building Healthy Communities launched a group called Transportation For All to steer the Measure C renewal to focus more on transit instead of roads. The group also considered pushing for a citizen-led ballot measure that would potentially compete with the official Measure C renewal initiative.
- FresnoCOG ultimately reached a compromise and expanded the steering committee from 26 to 38 members, giving 12 seats to representatives from Transportation For All.
Driving the news: Ashjian and others have voiced concerns that the steering committee and the renewal process has been compromised by social justice activists, pointing to the 12 seats given to Transportation For All.
- Writing for Sun View last week, Ashjian spoke out against buses currently receiving around 24% of all Measure C funds.
- “Why does this matter? Because the Fresno Council of Governments – which features mayors from every city in the County, and a representative from the Board of Supervisors – just installed 12 of the most left-wing disrupters to the Measure C renewal steering committee who are hoping to double that figure to 50%,” Ashjian wrote.
- Ashjian also spoke to KMJ last week on the Broeske & Musson show about Measure C, saying former Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin, through her organization the Central Valley Community Foundation, and Fresno Building Healthy Communities are trying to hijack Measure C.
- “Here comes this crazy Lynne Ashbeck out of Clovis that says, ‘Well we want to put left-wing libs on this – give them 12 seats.’ Twelve seats – the City of Fresno’s got three,” Ashjian told KMJ.
- Ashjian continued, “What happens is all these mayors, the Mendota mayor, all these different people – they decide that Ashley and the Building Healthy Communities people need to put 12 voting members. It doesn’t change what happens in the end, because the Board of Supervisors gets the ability – the five seats at the board of Fresno – gets the ability to go thumbs up or thumbs down. If we come to some sort of agreement, then they potentially could go thumbs up, they could put it to the ballot and it takes 66 and two-thirds.”
What they’re saying: Fresno County Supervisor Buddy Mendes, speaking to The Sun on Thursday, expressed alarm that a member would be removed for exercising their First Amendment right to free speech.
- He also noted that it was unlikely that Phipps had the authority to remove Ashjian, as Dyer appointed him to the post.
- Coincidentally, Phipps and Measure C Project Manager Kendall Flint gave a scheduled presentation to the Fresno City Council on Thursday, providing an update on the renewal effort.
- Fresno City Council President Mike Karbassi expressed concern around Ashjian’s removal and the sizeable influence that Transportation For All has on the steering committee, confirming with Phipps that the social justice activists were not appointed by any elected officials. Karbassi also told Phipps to reappoint Ashjian to the committee.
- “He has First Amendment rights. I may disagree with the things the Transportation For All folks have said and done in the past despite the damage to the public, but they’re right to voice their opinion,” Karbassi said. “They’re not breaking the law. They’re following the law. Mr. Ashjian has a First Amendment right.”
- Flint disagreed with Karbassi that this is a First Amendment issue.
- Councilman Tyler Maxwell said that while he may disagree with Ashjian on a number of issues, he thinks Ashjian should be reinstated.
- “I don’t think we need to have one-third-plus of this committee commandeered by people who all think the same thing, even if they disagree with members in the community, such as myself,” Maxwell said. “So this is becoming more and more difficult for me to digest as we let more of these outside folks in and we’re getting rid of the City of Fresno appointee.”
- Fresno City Manager Georgeanne White said the city was not given a heads up that Ashjian would be removed, saying Dyer was disappointed. She asked Phipps to clarify who actually removed Ashjian from the committee. Phipps said the decision was made on Wednesday during a facilitation committee meeting by Parlier Mayor Alma Beltran.
- “This is unacceptable,” White said. “It’s unacceptable to the mayor. It’s unacceptable to our administration that we can have one elected official make a decision.”
- Ashjian told The Sun, “If you come at the Asphalt King, you’re bound to get run over.”
