Commissioner Who Never Showed Up Reappointed

A commissioner who has never attended a meeting of the county Commission on Obscenity and Pornography has been reappointed by Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who said he was “a good member.”

“I would like to go to a meeting to see what it’s really doing,” said Michael B. Bennett, whom Yaroslavsky selected for a second term. “If I found it’s outlived its usefulness, I would be first to tell [Yaroslavsky], ‘I have better things to do with my time.’ ”

Yaroslavsky spokesman Joel Bellman said the supervisor considered Bennett, first appointed in 1997, someone with “broad experience.”

Despite his absence to date, Bennett said he looks forward to making a contribution to the commission.

“As an educator I hope I will bring some balance to it,” Bennett said. “I’m not someone who will tear up the 1st Amendment either, but I don’t want [kids] to get a hold of stuff that will do serious damage to their minds.”

Bennett said he has served as vice president of the United Teachers Los Angeles and on Los Angeles city commissions under the late former Mayor Tom Bradley. He also taught social studies at Hollenback Middle School in Los Angeles for many years.