Today, the Sheboygan Press Editorial Board weighed in on the controversy involving Jeni Reisinger, Mayor Juan Perez, City Attorney Steve McLean, and the Sheboygan Police Department.
The Board writes:
The Board writes:
Sheboygan Mayor Juan Perez and City Attorney Steve McLean have much better things to do than spend time writing and sending threatening letters to a persistent mayoral critic.
Not only that, but the attempt by Perez to have Jeni Reisinger remove a link to the Sheboygan Police Department on one of the Web sites she maintains smacks of an attempt to stifle her First Amendment rights. McLean, apparently at Perez's request, sent Reisinger a cease-and-desist letter demanding that she remove the Police Department link, "until such time as the city were to authorize such a link."
But there was nothing political about the link and nothing embarrassing to the city.
This appears to be an effort to perhaps get back at someone who has criticized him. Reisinger, after all, was among those who supported a failed attempt to recall Perez in 2006 and has said Perez doesn't support the Police Department.
It's baffling that Perez and McLean would demand that the link be removed, without first fully investigating whether there is any legal grounds for their demand. They had to know that this action would create a firestorm of controversy. The story was picked up statewide and even nationally, including in USA Today.
It was ludicrous for the city to send an official letter making a demand upon a citizen, on the assumption that the demand was enforceable.
...There should have been more research and thought before a letter was sent that could involve a legal challenge in which the the city could become embroiled.
And, how many other Web sites link to the Sheboygan police site? Have the Web site hosts all received permission to do so? Not likely.
Many other sites do link to the Sheboygan Police Department.
Like mine--
I haven't received any threatening notification from the Sheboygan City Attorney to remove my links. No one from the Sheboygan Police Department has contacted me.
Of course, I haven't spearheaded an effort to recall Mayor Juan Perez. That might have something to do with it. Just a guess.
At the time this editorial was written, the Board may not have realized how prophetic it would be when it suggested that there could be "a legal challenge in which the the city could become embroiled."
There is going to be a legal challenge and I'm glad.
There is going to be a legal challenge and I'm glad.
Letter to Police Chief David Kirk
Letter to City Attorney Steve McLean
Letter to Mayor Juan Perez
It's quite simple.
"No legal basis exists" to demand that Jeni remove the link on her removed from a website
It's not OK to abuse the authority of government and public agencies to harass a private citizen.
It's not OK to abuse the authority of government and public agencies to harass a private citizen.
Pursuant to the Wisconsin Open Records Law, Attorney Paul Bucher is requesting "copies of any and all documentation, correspondence, emails, recordings and any other types of communication, in whatever format, that may exist relative to Ms. Reisinger and/or the directive issued to Ms. Reisinger to remove any link on her website to the City of Sheboygan Police Department.
Well, now we'll get to the bottom of this. This should be quite enlightening for the citizens of Sheboygan.
6 comments:
In the aftermath of 9/11, we are fighting a global war on terrorism. Victory in this struggle will require more patience, more courage, and more sacrifice, otherwise the terrorists and extremists responsible for 9/11 will be able to establish a safe haven from which to further spread their ideology and to plan and plot attacks against the United States that will dwarf those of 9/11.
Your efforts to undermine the Mayor and City Attorney smack of collaboration with the enemy - if you are not with us, you are against us. Clearly, in this post-9/11 world, the Sheboygan authorities need to use whatever methods they deem appropriate to protect us from people they think might be providing aid to our enemies by criticizing elected officials. Even debating this matter supports the terrorists and may lead to the deaths of untold Americans.
In light of 9/11, how can you question the threat to our safety that links to the Police Department might pose? My God, an islamo-fascist terrorist might visit Jeni's website and click that link repeatedly, initiating a savage denial of service attack on the City's web servers and interrupting vital city services. This is no time for your leftie-communist babble about civil rights and the First Amendment. We are at war!
Truly lame.
Have you ever heard of comparing apples and oranges?
Clearly you have no sense of humor.
But as for apples and oranges - why are you so willing to blindly accept arbitrary decisions from one part of the executive branch, but not another? You are up in arms because some schmuck sent a baseless cease and desist letter to someone who dared speak out against the City government, but you apparently have no problem with members of congress running baseless smear campaigns against people who speak out against the President's policies or things like extraordinary rendition, FBI abuse of National Security Letters, warrantless wiretapping of US citizens, torture, signing statements, and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus.
Wow.
BTW, the whole first paragraph is made up of quotes from President Bush.
I've had enough of your insults and your baseless accusations.
Oh, Mary, you're so sorry. If you actually read August's post, you'd see the support you WERE getting from him.
Spare me...
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