Anti-party law turns innocent kids into criminals
Orange County Republican Party Chairman Fred Whitaker got into GOP politics because of his “belief in individual liberty, limited government and a free market,” according to the party’s website. His recent actions as an Orange councilman, however, show too little regard for liberty, governmental limits or the Constitution’s “right to peaceably assemble.”
The matter involves the city’s “party” ordinance, designed to combat “loud and unruly conduct” and underage drinking. The law as it exists seems reasonable enough given that the city’s Old Towne abuts a major university. Officials need a way to disperse parties that begin to resemble scenes from “Animal House.”
But on a 5-0 vote, the City Council is transforming a reasonable statute into something heavy-handed. The new measure, which must be approved on a second reading next month, expands the ordinance in some troubling ways. Currently, “It is unlawful for a host to knowingly hold or allow a party at which there is loud and unruly conduct and/or to permit underage drinking.”
Fair enough. If you host a party that becomes out of control, then it’s not unreasonable that you receive a citation. But the revised ordinance adds this line: “It is unlawful and a violation of this chapter for any person to be present at, attend or participate in a party where loud or unruly conduct is taking place.”
Let’s say you go to a person’s house (or are delivering something or just passing through), and the party gets loud, and the police are called. At that point, you are breaking the law. We’re talking about merely being at a party that gets loud – bad behavior such as urinating in public or underage drinking already are illegal.
We’re not talking about an infraction, which is like a parking ticket. Violations “shall constitute a misdemeanor,” according to the city’s ordinance.
Some employers ask applicants whether they have been convicted of a misdemeanor. Should college kids be tagged with diminished job prospects simply for being at a party? These citations will typically be pled down to infractions, but this is still problematic.
“If someone has the risk of something bad happening to them, they’ll think twice about being there,” Whitaker told me. The goal is to discourage kids from attending loud parties. Currently, he added, it’s too easy for the party hosts to evade responsibility. By allowing the police to cite party-goers, it provides pressure for people to turn in the party’s hosts.
That may be so, but this is fundamentally unjust and legally problematic. UC Irvine law school Dean Erwin Chemerinsky said the measure is vulnerable to challenge: “This creates liability just for being there, even if the person is doing nothing else.”
And since when is our system designed to impose sentences and fines on people as a way to pressure them into pointing the fingers at others? Whitaker touted an aspect of the measure that gives private citizens an expanded right to sue their neighbors where parties take place, which is an odd approach for a leader of a party that targets lawsuit abuse.
Orange Councilman Mike Alvarez assured me the police will only use this new measure to clamp down on megaparties, with hundreds of students in attendance. But nothing in the statute applies such limits. It’s unlikely, but one could – under the statute’s broad wording – face a misdemeanor for a child’s birthday party that gets too loud. Alvarez said the police aren’t doing enough under the current law, so why add new laws without first enforcing the old ones? There are many other possible approaches that are less troubling from a civil-liberties perspective.
Although an absentee owner can’t face criminal charges for a party, landlords can face fines. As a landlord, I know how limited I am in controlling what goes on after tenants lease my home. The existing ordinance punishes party throwers for more than one “loud and unruly” party in a 10-day period. The new ordinance puts a two-party-a-year limit on the books. If that is violated, property owners could be forced to pay police costs.
“This will never withstand legal challenge as it violates the Bill of Rights’ guarantee of freedom of assembly,” said a former Orange councilman, Denis Bilodeau. Now a board member of the Orange Tax Payers Association, he said the group plans a challenge.
But it shouldn’t take a lawsuit to convince elected officials – especially Republicans, who typically believe in due process and liberty – to put the kibosh on this noxious measure.
