California Mayor Loses His Mute Button

If you've ever subjected yourself to the verbal vomit stream that a public comment period at a city council meeting can be, you have to feel for Carson, California, Mayor Jim Dear. The mayor, in what's been seen as an abuse of power, has been using a mute button to cut off public speakers when they go past their allotted time, as well as to quiet members of his own city council.

More than two years after complaints about Dear's use of the mute button made their way up to the district attorney's office, the mayor's muting looks to be coming to an end. City council members voted 3 to 1 this week to remove the mute button, effectively disarming Dear from censoring the public during what are supposed to be open comment periods. Dear claims that many other cities in Los Angeles County also use a mute button, but the district attorney's office says it hasn't heard of any other mayors or council members with such volume control. The office advised Dear to stop using the mute button in 2010, but that advice was ignored.