EDITORIAL – The law defines a public figure as a person, such as a politician, celebrity, or business leader, who has a certain social position within a certain scope and a significant influence on society or a person who has thrust themselves to the forefront of particular public controversies to influence the resolution of the issues involved.
As the publisher of Big Valley News, I recognize that I have voluntarily placed myself in the position of a public figure. If I didn’t want to be in the public spotlight, I should have probably picked a different line of work. There are others in our community that take to the podiums at public meetings, such as county board of supervisors, school boards, or city councils, and share their opinions or criticize our elected officials. Those people are also public figures and hopefully, they all gave thought ahead of time to what it means to choose to spend time in the public spotlight.
We live in a great country where we have the right to question our government. The same First Amendment Rights I have to work as a member of the Free Press also give the rights to any citizen to stand up for what they feel is wrong or right. But what these people also need to understand is when they publicly address our government; their issues might also become “newsworthy”. Which means the press might have questions about their statements or issues.
Now of course even public figures can choose who they wish to communicate with. As a member of the press, I cannot force someone to grant me an interview. However I am free to ask the questions, I just might not get the answers. If a particular speaker at a city council meeting announces he may make a political run for the board of supervisors and the press then calls for more information, that is not harassment or bullying. That is the press doing their job.
When Ron Montoya, a medical social worker with Valley Medical Systems Inc., announced during the public comment portion of a Madera City Council meeting last month he was thinking of running against Madera County Supervisor, Max Rodriguez, Big Valley News texted Mr. Montoya to ask if that was an official announcement. Montoya texted back “I asked you to leave me alone, I will file a restraining order against you for harassing me.”
Well truth be known, Mr. Montoya has never made any such request. My only previous text or phone communication with this man was to request a meeting with him and the principal of Madera South High School to address an issue that involved his behavior while attending the Madera South High School Site Council. For two straight months,, Mr. Montoya disrupted the MSHS Site Council meetings, of which I am the chairman, to berate me regarding a BVN editorial I wrote regarding Montoya’s claim the school's administration was conducting “institutional racism” and creating a “hostile work environment” for our school's coaches.
When I asked for a meeting via a text, Montoya’s response was “You're not wired right just like your father. Your a bully and a loser I’m not afraid of you”. Please note that is the exact spelling of his text message, not that spelling matters as much in the world of text messaging. I only mention it because Mr. Montoya chooses to point out during the last city council meeting that Madera City Council Member Donald Holley used “FAX” in a text message when he meant “FACTS”. What is that adage about glass houses?
Mr. Montoya is also a member of the MSHS School Site Council. For his first year, he was an alternate. When a parent position opened last year, he was moved up to a regular position. The SSC has no authority over the day-to-day operation of the school and it is not a parent organization. The only task granted to SSC’s is the administration of categorical funding, specifically Federal TITLE 1 monies. In the case of Madera South High School around $800k a year.
During our meetings, which are open to the public, Mr. Montoya has had issues staying on the topic of TITLE 1. In one meeting, he decided he needed to question district employees, who have sat in on our meetings, on how much money they earn, and why they don’t live in the city of Madera. This is something that not only does not fall under the purview of the council but is also none of his business.
Consider - would Mr. Montoya’s employer, Warren Wheelock, who owns the Fresno “Valley Home Care”, need to explain why he lives in the coastal community of Arroyo Grande and his offices are just blocks from the Pacific Ocean in Grover Beach? All of his employees and clients suffer through the 105 degrees Central Valley summers, meanwhile Wheelock ‘hangs ten’ on the coast. Of course, he wouldn’t. It’s no one’s business where Montoya’s boss lives, just like it is no one’s business where city or school district employees live. But that doesn’t stop Montoya from asking these questions and wasting the time of the others who are on the Site Council while he fishes for problems.
Yet when the press asks legitimate questions about comments he makes in public meetings, he decides the press is ‘a bully’ attempting to harass him? This brings us to the definition of a ‘bully’.
What is a bully? Webster defines a bully as “one who is habitually cruel, insulting, or threatening to others who are weaker, smaller, or in some way vulnerable”. Would you say that sounds like a reporter who asks a question via a text message? Is it may be more appropriate to use as a description of a man who stands at the podium nearly every meeting for a year and a half and threatens school board members or harasses a city mayor because of his ‘personal’ financial issues? What about a person who directs personal insults at the father of a reporter (whom we are sure Mr. Montoya never met since this man has been dead for over 30 years), simply because a reporter followed up on Mr. Montoya’s public mention of plans to run for office?
Now here is where we explore the parable mentioned earlier. Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. This is a well-known phrase that briefly means that in attacking others you often end up hurting yourself. With enough humility to admit up front that there are plenty of Maderans who will chuckle at the thought of BVN preaching this particular sermon, I feel the need to explain why I feel Mr. Montoya is newsworthy right now.
This reporter has personally witnessed less than professional behavior from Mr. Montoya in situations ranging from his interactions with fellow MSHS parents to his many visits to school board and city council meetings. He has taken it on himself to spread his personal opinions about perceived Madera School District failings, not just to the Board and Madera citizens/parents, but valley wide by distributing a letter to Fresno/Clovis area coaches and Administrators. I have heard his son’s track coach apologize on behalf of Mr. Montoya after he used the same pretty colorful and inappropriate language in front of high school students while defending himself when he was asked to drive more carefully on campus. In short, this man lives in a large, crystal clear glasshouse and I suggest that before deciding to step any further into the public spotlight, he should give long hard thought to the specific steps he needs to take in policing his own actions.
Personally, I am asking myself why this person is interested in running for the Madera County Board of Supervisors at all? I think that is not the real end game. Even Montoya must know that there is no chance he will ever win that election. I think Montoya’s end game is to get his name out there for the March primary with the supervisor's race only to come back in November to challenge Madera City Councilman Donald Holley for his seat.
I think Ron Montoya learned a big lesson from the 2016 Presidential Election. He has observed that there is a segment of our population that responds to the drama of false accusations and bullying. While he claims to despise him, his role model for this campaign of misdirection and misinformation is none other than our President Donald Trump. I am just hoping that the majority of the voters in the city council district 6 will see through the lies and will stand behind the one man that has spent a lifetime of service to that community, Donald Holley.
Montoya’s campaign will be financed by developer Michael Pistoresi and Khalid Chaudhry of Ripon, who have been using Ron as their bully-pawn attacking the city council and mayor at nearly every city council meeting for a year and a half. They have already bought and paid for two other council members in the last election, with Daryl Robinson on the council adding Ron Montoya to their stable will give Pistoresi and Chaudhry the majority they need to raid and pilfer Madera like a pair of pirates. That is not what is in the best interest of Madera.
Montoya might not understand like our President does not understand, that it is the job of a free press to report the news. When a private citizen puts himself out in the public eye for over a year and a half to bully our elected officials, it might be news. When someone announces they are going to run for public office, it might be news. When a home health care company hires unlicensed “professionals”, it might be news. Our job is to inform the public not to bully or harass them.
Mark Twain once said, “Never pick a fight with a man that buys ink by the barrel and paper by the role.” But then again he also said, “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, then to open your mouth and remove all doubt”. I do not think Ron Montoya is a big fan of Mark Twain’s.
