The Highland City Council recently enacted a policy that, while it doesn’t seem to be too much of a concern to the City it’s aimed at (San Francisco), is starting to get some attention.  In response to San Francisco voters’ approval in November of a non-binding measure opposing the military seeking new recruits from local high schools, Highland is now prohibiting its employees and public officials from spending taxpayer dollars attending conferences, seminars or forums in San Francisco.

Certainly a little national attention to this is in order.  Consider that, according to a recent L.A. Times article, there’s a growing debate developing about whether the military should be afforded the same recruiting access to schools as other employers, as provided for in the federal ‘No Child Left Behind’ Act.

As Mike Der Manouel points out in his most recent post, the Fox News Channel’s Hannity and Colmes aired a show last night from San Francisco that included an interview with San Francisco Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval.  Among other things, they discussed the Board of Supervisors’ action to vote down a plan to bring the historic USS Iowa to the Bay as a museum and World War II tribute.  Read and view here Sean Hannity’s interview with Sandoval, who said he doesn’t want a "symbol of war" in his harbor.  In November, Fox commentator Bill O’Reilly also weighed in on San Francisco’s misguided approval of Proposition "I".  So Fox has really done well by drawing some national attention to San Francisco’s behavior, which I believe demonstrates how anti-war sentiment can give way to anti-military sentiment.  Still, someone needs to pitch Fox this story about this comparatively tiny city of Highland (population: 50,000) standing up for our armed services against a megalopolis 400 miles away whose residents mostly couldn’t care less what Fox News or San Bernardino County or the rest of the country thinks about them and their views.

So far, the media coverage on the issue seems to poke more fun at Highland than the fabled City by the Bay.  Read here.  Also, take a look at this video clip, which features an exchange between San Francisco’s KPIX political editor Hank Plante and Highland Councilman Larry McCallon.  (Thanks to Adam Aleman, Executive Director of the San Bernardino County Republican Party, for the link and the tip for this post.)  In the clip, McCallon, a member of the County GOP Central Committee, summed up his city’s position: "Outside of California, we have a reputation of being a bunch of kooks and nuts because of the things San Francisco has done.  We wanted to let the rest of the country know that California, and specifically Highland, supports our military, and that San Francisco does not speak for Highland."

As a veteran, I’m a strong believer in our professional, all-volunteer military services, so I couldn’t disagree more with Proposition I’s idea of discouraging San Francisco youths from becoming informed about their options should they choose to serve in the Armed Forces.  I believe a majority of San Francisco’s voters displayed a true lack of understanding of our country’s need for quality service personnel whose talent in many cases would otherwise go untapped in the earlier years of personal and professional development.

Some may dismiss Highland, a comparatively small city, in its action against the state’s fourth largest city as wasting time with a policy that’s mostly symbolic.  But it could become more than that in the war of ideas.  Many of us love to visit San Francisco despite its politics being somewhere to the left of … Amsterdam.  But maybe it’s really not a laughing matter to reward a city whose representation routinely ends up in leadership positions in Sacramento and Washington and actually tries to govern over the rest of us as if we lived in Amsterdam.

As you can see in the video clip from KPIX, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome didn’t seem too concerned about Highland’s action.  He called Highland’s leaders "errant" on the issue, and actually seemed a little amused.  In all fairness, what else could he say?  Still I would caution the Mayor not to be too sanguine about any city declaring his city off-limits, considering that it’s currently such a popular destination for conventions and those things bring in lots of revenue.  In the final analysis, even if more cites followed Highland’s lead, San Franciscans aren’t going to change their ways.  But it would be nice to at least send the message to our service members that the rest of the state supports them.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 15th, 2006 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.