Speak No Evil
Mitch Berger’s editorial, “Bitch SLAPPed Again?“, in this week’s Seattle Weekly, covers the efforts of two Puget Sound communities to close off discussion of certain topics at council meetings. Yelm doesn’t want to hear the word “moratorium” ever again in reference to big box stores and Pierce County council members don’t want their motivations questioned at meetings. Both restrictions on speech are a bit disturbing especially since these are appropriate issues to be discussing at such forums.
I can understand the Pierce County ban on attacking the individual council members. Heck, I’ve watched lots of such meetings and I’m tired of windbags standing up to make wild accusations too. BUT – courts have historically let decisions made by public officials stand even after the officials are in jail for taking bribes influencing those decisions. A recent case-study in such absurdity just hit a town in New Jersey (here’s a NYT article).
The ACLU is pressuring both governmental groups to step back, I’ll report back if I see anything more.
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