{"id":1528,"date":"2024-04-08T11:08:16","date_gmt":"2024-04-08T17:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scottkjames.com\/website_d4298829\/?p=1528"},"modified":"2024-04-08T11:08:19","modified_gmt":"2024-04-08T17:08:19","slug":"chicken-suits-police-escorts-and-the-first-amendment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottkjames.com\/website_d4298829\/2024\/04\/chicken-suits-police-escorts-and-the-first-amendment\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicken suits, police escorts, and the First Amendment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"\">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.<\/p>\n<cite>The First Amendment to the United States Constitution <\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">A couple weeks ago I made a mistake. I voted to suspend Public Comment from Weld Board of County Commissioners&#8217; (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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">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 &#8211; 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">This commissioner would rally political allies to speak during public comment against the majority of the BOCC&#8217;s actions. Within minutes, a campaign fundraising email would then be sent to this commissioner&#8217;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. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greeleytribune.com\/2024\/03\/12\/weld-county-commissioners-remove-public-comment-from-future-board-meeting-agendas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The resulting press coverage<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">This resulted in more political theater, including a new lowlight in my time as a public servant &#8211; someone protesting at a meeting in a chicken suit. All the world is a stage&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Chair of Weld County Commission eliminates public comment at board meetings\" width=\"810\" height=\"456\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GiU5PeMhn80?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">They&#8217;ve violated my First Amendment rights!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">I heard that a lot during the week of my mistake. To be clear &#8211; 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. <a href=\"https:\/\/coloradofoic.org\/open-government-guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Public Comment is not required at governmental meetings<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">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 <strong><em>the right thing to do<\/em><\/strong> to have public comment at public meetings &#8211; which is why I voted to right my mistake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">So with all this political drama fresh on my mind, you can imagine that I was greatly intrigued by the <a href=\"https:\/\/coloradosun.com\/2024\/04\/06\/colorado-republican-party-kicks-out-colorado-sun-reporter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">expulsion of a Colorado Sun reporter from the Colorado GOP Assembly in Pueblo on Saturday<\/a>. 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">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 (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.coloradopolitics.com\/elections\/2024\/fec-complaint-alleges-colorado-gop-illegally-backed-party-chair-dave-williams-congressional-campaign\/article_997663e8-f2ca-11ee-8cb6-f349e481e75f.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">if not breaking &#8211; that will be seen<\/a>) bully. He is a self-promoting narcissist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2024\/03\/08\/dave-williams-colorado-gop-trump-endorsement\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">that is abusing the once stalwart Colorado GOP<\/a> for his own personal gain &#8211; my own opinion(and you know what they say about opinions)\/observation, of course. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">But in this case, Dave was not wrong. He was not right, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Sandra Fish was not wrong. She was not right, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Facts, at least as I understand them, as reported in <a href=\"https:\/\/coloradosun.com\/2024\/04\/06\/colorado-republican-party-kicks-out-colorado-sun-reporter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">THIS STORY<\/a> in the Colorado Sun:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"\">Ms. Fish was told on the morning of the Colorado GOP Assembly that she would not be allowed to cover the event.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">Ms. Fish drove down to Pueblo to cover the event anyway.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">In the rush of the event, someone gave her press credentials anyway (ever worked a check-in table at a large event? It&#8217;s hectic.).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">When she was spotted, she was escorted out by a sheriff&#8217;s deputy. After all, it is a private event to which she was told not to come, and she did anyway. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">She did not behave badly at the event. She peacefully left when asked to leave.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Here come the dichotomies of life. Many of the comparisons to the Weld BOCC and public comment apply to this scenario. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"\">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&#8217;s 1A rights were not &#8220;trampled,&#8221; the spirit of openness and free speech was squashed by Williams, and, bottom line &#8211; <strong><em>it&#8217;s a way-bad look<\/em><\/strong>. For a party that supposedly embraces the constitution, this just looks bad. A <em>&#8220;letter of the law vs. spirit of the law&#8221;<\/em> kinda deal.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"\">What was Sandra Fish thinking? If someone tells me that I am not invited to a party, I don&#8217;t show up. Ms. Fish was not invited to attend &#8211; 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. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">We all need to take a deep breath and get back to principles.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">There is the <strong><em>letter of the law<\/em><\/strong> and the <strong><em>spirit of the law<\/em><\/strong>. I have said, over and over, as a public servant and a father (for cryin&#8217; out loud), <strong><em>&#8220;Just because you can doesn&#8217;t mean you should.&#8221;<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">I violated one of my own principles when I voted to suspend public comment. My vote was justified and completely legal &#8211; a certain commissioner was making a mockery of our process and putting on a political show &#8211; but it still doesn&#8217;t make my vote right. Dave Williams was completely within his right to have Ms. Fish expelled. But it doesn&#8217;t make it right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">The proper antidote to bad behavior is not more bad behavior. Two wrongs don&#8217;t make a right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Ms. Fish: The solution when someone tries to squelch your voice by telling you to stay home is not to show up anyway. Stay home (unless it is a government function and then <strong><em>there is<\/em><\/strong> a 1A violation) and write a wicked op-ed piece. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">But I guess good behavior doesn&#8217;t <a href=\"https:\/\/scottkjames.com\/the-things-we-do-for-clicks\/\">drive clicks<\/a>. Chicken suits and police escorts do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,10],"tags":[120,121,119,122],"class_list":["post-1528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest","category-comm","tag-coloradogop","tag-davewilliams","tag-firstamendment","tag-publiccomment"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scottkjames.com\/website_d4298829\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/candle-quill-and-inkwell-with-constitution-of-the-united-states.jpg?fit=2000%2C1333&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottkjames.com\/website_d4298829\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottkjames.com\/website_d4298829\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottkjames.com\/website_d4298829\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottkjames.com\/website_d4298829\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottkjames.com\/website_d4298829\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1528"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scottkjames.com\/website_d4298829\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1531,"href":"https:\/\/scottkjames.com\/website_d4298829\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528\/revisions\/1531"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottkjames.com\/website_d4298829\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottkjames.com\/website_d4298829\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottkjames.com\/website_d4298829\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottkjames.com\/website_d4298829\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}