Chicken suits, police escorts, and the First Amendment

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution

A couple weeks ago I made a mistake. I voted to suspend Public Comment from Weld Board of County Commissioners’ (BOCC) meetings. I did so not because of what any member of the public said. I did so because, in my assessment, another member of the Weld Board of County Commissioners was making a mockery of the Public Comment process.

This commissioner would, without prior knowledge of any other member of the BOCC, write resolutions and proclamations, solely political in nature, and then request they be added to the agenda. I do not want to consider anything until I have had the opportunity to read it, discuss it, and consider its ramifications – a view that is shared by some of my other fellow commissioners. Therefore, the motion to amend the agenda would die due to lack of second.

This commissioner would rally political allies to speak during public comment against the majority of the BOCC’s actions. Within minutes, a campaign fundraising email would then be sent to this commissioner’s email database. Bottom line, this commissioner was turning Public Comment into political theater and I find it highly inappropriate and a blatant abuse of the process. So I voted to suspend public comment. The resulting press coverage.

This resulted in more political theater, including a new lowlight in my time as a public servant – someone protesting at a meeting in a chicken suit. All the world is a stage…

In retrospect, that vote was wrong. All citizens should not be punished because of the actions of a few. So one week later, I voted to reinstate public comment. A lesson learned by me and a mistake I will not make again, regardless of whether certain commissioners abuse and politicize the process.

They’ve violated my First Amendment rights!

I heard that a lot during the week of my mistake. To be clear – no, we did not. Read the above quoted amendment. Congress passed no law. No one was imprisoned for what they said. The BOCC meeting is a business meeting of Weld County government. Public Comment is not required at governmental meetings.

Statutorily it is required when we sit in our legislative role and consider new code/ordinance and when we sit in our quasi-judicial role. It is not required as part of the general meeting. But there is what is legal and what is right. I believe it is the right thing to do to have public comment at public meetings – which is why I voted to right my mistake.

So with all this political drama fresh on my mind, you can imagine that I was greatly intrigued by the expulsion of a Colorado Sun reporter from the Colorado GOP Assembly in Pueblo on Saturday. Sandra Fish of the Colorado Sun was asked to leave the Assembly by none other than the Colorado GOP chair, Dave Williams. Cue the social media hysteria.

I even jumped in on some of that hysteria, calling on Chairman Williams to right his wrong in the same way I have done in very recent history. Look, I am no Dave Williams fan. I think he is a rule bending (if not breaking – that will be seen) bully. He is a self-promoting narcissist that is abusing the once stalwart Colorado GOP for his own personal gain – my own opinion(and you know what they say about opinions)/observation, of course.

But in this case, Dave was not wrong. He was not right, either.

Sandra Fish was not wrong. She was not right, either.

Facts, at least as I understand them, as reported in THIS STORY in the Colorado Sun:

• Ms. Fish was told on the morning of the Colorado GOP Assembly that she would not be allowed to cover the event.
• Ms. Fish drove down to Pueblo to cover the event anyway.
• In the rush of the event, someone gave her press credentials anyway (ever worked a check-in table at a large event? It’s hectic.).
• When she was spotted, she was escorted out by a sheriff’s deputy. After all, it is a private event to which she was told not to come, and she did anyway.
• She did not behave badly at the event. She peacefully left when asked to leave.

Here come the dichotomies of life. Many of the comparisons to the Weld BOCC and public comment apply to this scenario.

• Dave Williams was right. He had the authority to remove Ms. Fish from a private event. But in my assessment, he was wrong to do so. While Ms. Fish’s 1A rights were not “trampled,” the spirit of openness and free speech was squashed by Williams, and, bottom line – it’s a way-bad look. For a party that supposedly embraces the constitution, this just looks bad. A “letter of the law vs. spirit of the law” kinda deal.

• What was Sandra Fish thinking? If someone tells me that I am not invited to a party, I don’t show up. Ms. Fish was not invited to attend – she was told (according to the referenced article) not to come. So why did she? Total speculation on my part: Was there a little bit of hoping that something like this might happen in the back of her head? Because the press and social media has sure exploded. Predictably so.

We all need to take a deep breath and get back to principles.

There is the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. I have said, over and over, as a public servant and a father (for cryin’ out loud), “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.”

I violated one of my own principles when I voted to suspend public comment. My vote was justified and completely legal – a certain commissioner was making a mockery of our process and putting on a political show – but it still doesn’t make my vote right. Dave Williams was completely within his right to have Ms. Fish expelled. But it doesn’t make it right.

The proper response to bad behavior is not more bad behavior. Two wrongs don’t make a right.

Chairman Williams : The solution to slanted, bias reporting is not to try to eliminate it. Let it happen, point it out, and let the people make up their own mind.

Ms. Fish: The solution when someone tries to squelch your voice by telling you to stay home is not to try and enter the assembly anyway. Show up, but don’t enter the assembly. Talk to folks coming and going. Offer perspectives. Then go home, write an article about what you learned, and then write a wicked op-ed piece.

But I guess good behavior doesn’t drive clicks. Chicken suits and police escorts do.