Bakersfield.com: Kern County news, events, classifieds, shopping, & search

RSS Feed   Print Story   E-mail Story        

Marylee Shrider: Barnett entitled to run office as she sees fit

By MARYLEE SHRIDER, Californian columnist
e-mail: mshrider@bakersfield.com | Friday, Jun 13 2008 7:25 PM

Last Updated: Friday, Jun 13 2008 7:10 PM

I realize the decision by Auditor-Controller-County Clerk Ann Barnett to stop all county-performed wedding ceremonies is controversial, but, yikes, we haven’t witnessed this kind of media coverage in Kern County since our last multiple-murder case.

No laws were broken, no rules were bent, no office policies trod upon, yet pundits, reporters and news anchors from here to New York continue their breathless, though not always accurate, daily reports in the wake of Barnett’s decision.

This, despite the fact her decision will not keep any couple, gay or straight, from getting a marriage license come June 17. Barnett cited space restraints and budget concerns as her reasons for halting the ceremonies, but frustrated media types all but camped out in her office foyer in an effort to dig up the REAL explanation.

True, Barnett has been cautious and deliberate in her response to reporters. Critics, like Los Angeles Times columnist Patt Morrison, in her Thursday column, even suggested Barnett is so intent on dodging the media “her home phone had been disconnected.”

Odd. It was working just fine when I called. And always has, Barnett said.

Those opposed to the no-wedding edict also point to Barnett’s early consults with the conservative legal group Alliance Defense Fund as evidence of her REAL intentions. But attorneys with the ADF — characterized by one reporter as a “gay-marriage opposition group” — say

Barnett “is taking a legitimate legal position” they’re willing to defend.

Of COURSE Barnett consulted the ADF. No matter what professional and personal reasons lay behind her decision, the politically savvy Barnett knew full well how her announcement would be received by the pro-gay-marriage press. Who was she supposed to consult? The ACLU?

Budget problems, over-burdened staffs and space restraints — especially space restraints — are ongoing issues in Barnett’s offices, as they are for many county administrators. Given the anticipated hike in requests for wedding ceremonies — County Counsel Bernard Barmann reportedly said he expected a “landslide” of same-sex couples to come forward for weddings on June 17 — Barnett’s reasons for putting a stop to wedding ceremonies should not be so quickly dismissed.

As for her personal feelings on the issue, they are her own and should stay that way.

“The main issue here is that she has the legal right as clerk to decline to perform marriage ceremonies and she’s exercised that discretion,” says Brian Raum, ADF senior legal counsel. “She sought our advice and it’s our position that any clerk who decides not to perform ceremonies is entitled to a defense.”

Until the voters say otherwise, she’s also entitled to run her office as she sees fit.

“My decision was based on facts and the fact that it’s discretionary,” Barnett said Friday. “If people don’t agree with it, I’m sorry, but it’s my decision to make and I made it to the best of my ability.”

The California Supreme Court has spoken, their decision is the law, at least for now: couples, gay and straight, may marry. That they may not marry at the county clerk’s office is not discrimination. Just an inconvenience.

Opinions expressed in this column are those of Marylee Shrider, not The Californian. Her column appears Saturdays. Reach her at mshrider@bakersfield.com or 395-7474.