Complaint goes to Saint Paul Police http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/local/7295329.htm
Plus Below is a excerpt from the Villager, November 19, page 6. Sorry, no web link. "If the reaction of Finney and the NAACP to a live, off--the-cuff comment was excessive, the reaction of Ward 5 City Council candidate Kris Reiter and her campaign manager, Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher, to the reading of the Infamous Question at a candidate forum was downright aberrant. (And no, on the advice of our attorney, I won't be the first publisher in town to print the Infamous Question. The likelihood of a libel lawsuit is great enough, the cost of defending this newspaper high enough, and the turth of the asssertion iffy enough, that it's not worth it.) The infamous Question would have been nothing more than a footnote in a remarkable election - and grist for the Rice Street rumor mill - had Fletcher not demanded for evidentiary purposes all of the cards from which the questions at the forum had been read and then threatened to sue the League of Women Voters and the North End News, the sponsors of the forum. Reiter has since indicated that she may follow suit. Let's set aside the question of whether an elected county sheriff should ever serve as a campaign chairman for a candidate running for office in the same county. Let's set aside, too, the question of whether a county sheriff is acting as a campaign chairman or abusing his power as a law enforcement officer in launching an investigation into the identity of the author of the Infamous Question. What Fletcher and Reiter should not set aside is the fact that the Infamous Question will be fair game for every media outlet in the Twin Cities should the matter go to court. In their own interest, they'd be wise to stop this silliness now." Congratulations to the Villager for raising some of the very important questions which need to be raised. But the questions I would really love to see additional discussion about are the ones the Villager raised but chose not to address. Should an elected county sheriff should ever serve as a campaign chairman for a candidate running for office in the same county? Was the county sheriff acting as a campaign chairman or abusing his power as a law enforcement officer in launching an investigation into the identity of the author of the Infamous Question? And there are some added questions which need to be considered. The Villager has put in print what many of us believed all along, the threat of a lawsuit is preventing them from printing something which has clearly become news, even though it might not have been news at the time. Where are the defenders of the free press now? I think I know that answer. The big guys with the enough bucks to actually take this thing to court are not willing to admit that they did and are pulling a punch here. For them to take this to court now would be to say out loud, "It was news and it was fit to print (or broadcast) but we were (and are) just too scared." And just what else are they afraid to print? How big a bully do they need to be facing to say, "Gee, maybe this is just not worth it." Is failing to exert their right to publish a slippery slope? Only time will tell. No, we are not facing tanks in the square. I would compare it to a rat eating through the covering on the electric wire. A little bite at a time, slowly the damage is done, then the light goes out. -- Jeanne Weigum 651-646-3005 fax 651-646-0142 NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Stpaul mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul
