We always lament that people in the corridors of power don’t know or care where the Inland Empire is. That, uh, won’t be the case if Matt Gaetz is confirmed as U.S. attorney general. Riverside is already in his crosshairs.
Gaetz, along with fellow congressional firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene, booked the Riverside Convention Center for a rally on July 17, 2021. When the city-owned center’s private operator canceled it, the pair held a “free speech” protest outside Riverside City Hall that night.
“We’re having a peaceful protest against communism,” Gaetz said in a video earlier that day outside City Hall.
“These folks” — he jerked a thumb toward the building — “they tried to cancel our venues, but they can never cancel our patriotism or our American spirit.”
The pair sued Riverside, as well as Anaheim, which also backed out of hosting them, for allegedly trampling on their First Amendment rights.
Just the other day, we reported that the duo settled out of court, winning $150,000. Riverside and Raincross Hospitality Management Corp. each paid $50,000 and Anaheim paid $50,000. That’s a modest payout, but it’s not nothing.
Now that President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Gaetz as the nation’s top law-enforcement official, with disruption and retribution in mind, I wanted to highlight the unusual local distinction this portends.
Gaetz would likely be the first U.S. attorney general in American history to have sued an Inland Empire city in a personal capacity.
Why “likely” the first? In newspaper fashion, it’s better to hedge sweeping statements for fear of being wrong.
For all I know, John Mitchell (1969-1972) once won a trip-and-fall case in Redlands. Or Charles Bonaparte (1906-1909) saw Upland in court when his carriage broke an axle after hitting the city’s first pothole.
Anyway, Riverside has special reason to hope that Gaetz is not confirmed by the Senate. (Or that Greene isn’t nominated for anything, like secretary of Offense.)
A week of contrasts
Yours truly made two public appearances last week around my new collection of columns, “Waving at Strangers,” in very different venues.
On Tuesday I was at the Redlands Forum, speaking to my largest solo audience yet, something like 120 people, and in the fanciest venue so far, the auditorium at Esri, with raked seating, a big stage, a sound booth, video streaming and a nearly invisible headset microphone, as if I were giving a TED talk.
Thankfully, the Forum has a built-in audience that shows up no matter what. That helped fill seats. But many people — from Redlands, San Bernardino and Riverside — told me they were there solely because they wanted to hear me, that my columns are a mainstay of their morning routine.
It was touching. But also — reading from my book, talking, taking questions — a lot of fun.
During the Q&A, the event host asked impishly: “Is this going to make your column?”
“It’s possible,” I replied noncommittally.
Then on Thursday, I spoke at Claremont’s modest Ginger Elliott Center, hosted by Claremont Heritage. This was more what I’m used to: folding chairs set up in a small room. No microphone needed. An audience of about 25, with a lot of familiar faces.
My journey to Redlands: a 72-mile round trip. The Claremont talk: five blocks from my house. If not for needing to transport two boxes of books, I would have walked.
Another interesting contrast: In Redlands I sold 13 books. In Claremont I sold 20. One woman gave me a baggie of cranberry-pumpkin bread.
Nothing like the hometown crowd.
Next up
I’ll be speaking at the Upland Public Library at 10 a.m. Nov. 23, a fine way to start your Saturday morning. Come see me! At this point it’s my last scheduled talk of 2024 — unless some other group invites me (polite cough).
Dept. of Corrections
In attempting Friday to correct an error here, your columnist somehow managed to merely repeat it word for word. Ah, the joy of writing on deadline.
Let me try again: For many decades, the Riverside Enterprise was the morning paper. The Riverside Press was the afternoon paper.
My apologies to former paperboy Stephen Sverte, whose comment got mangled here Friday. Another former paperboy, Tom Reul, now of Upland, set me straight with good humor, saying: “Perhaps the third time is the charm?” Let’s hope!
Reul offers more background: “Many, many more people got the afternoon paper than the morning one. I was route 15-20 in the mid-’60s from the same shed that Steve mentions in your column today. It was called Farnham Station and was on Farnham Street near the corner of Magnolia and Van Buren.”
John Fay of Riverside also emails about my flub and asks: “Do you need a Reforming the Department of Corrections Department?”
Someone needs to clean house. Or at least dust a little.
David Allen doesn’t do windows Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Email dallen@scng.com, phone 909-483-9339, like davidallencolumnist on Facebook and follow @davidallen909 on X.
