(Please excuse my typos below)
4) Request for clarification as to any other ongoing confidential agreements (other than the March 2, 2013 settlement agreement itself) which have also been made by the City's staff and/or the City Council, and/or with any other entity regarding the oil issue.
Has in any manner the rights of any individual council member to speak on their own, or on their constituents behalf, been muzzled via any agreement by the council in closed session or otherwise? This question has not been answered clearly in my and others' view and such is not specified in the settlement agreement, nor do I recall a debate on the agenda item in any public meeting where the council specifically voted to maintain a position of unanimous support to muzzle themselves. Something seems to be missing here and apparently has a lot do with the perception the public has of the Council regarding the entire oil matter? (See article: Did elected officials in Hermosa Beach violate the Brown Act.)
Complicating the issue is that rumors persist that more than one council member has made it very clear to some residents or business operators that they are either supporting or not supporting lifting the ban on oil drilling in Hermosa Beach.
Unfortunately, that all five council member appear to be stonewalling, on the record, the issue of what agreement they perhaps made behind the scenes indicates to many, if not most, that the Council is being disingenuous and playing politically coy, given that the oil drilling issue is far from new in the city.
Further, it is doubtful that even 1 in 20 of the electorate who actually vote on the oil drilling issue will make up their minds one way or the other, basis reading or understanding anything of the nuts and bolts of the EIR's likely mountain of esoteric data, E&B's application, the flood of mailers and propaganda barrages to be likely put out by E&B and others, or the underlying agreements with Macpherson that have been transferred to E&B or others, nor will they perhaps understand or trust the grandiose claims of revenue one way or the other or the safety or lack of safety claims E&B and others are making. Thus,
4-a) Are there any agreements written or verbal other than the settlement agreement as related to the question of lifting the ban on oil drilling, the election, confidential, or otherwise, that the public and press are not distinctly and formally aware, and understanding of? This could include any issues agreed to by the Council members among themselves, such as that they would not individually take announce a public position on oil drilling until "XYZ" occurs, etc. If there are any other agreements please disclose and clarify as best possible what purpose they are for, why they are needed, and when they are made.
4-b) Is each and every council member free at this time to speak his own mind regarding lifting the ban on oil drilling, both inside or outside of a public forum, and/or to the press on the record? Yes or No? If No, this due to a specific binding agreement made by the full council among themselves, and if so why such agreement required when the settlement agreement is supposedly the full and complete agreement?
See Hiding Oil Money Point 3
