Spokane7
60°Quick links: 2012 graduating seniors • Summer camp guide • Jobs: The Road Ahead • Prep sports • News quiz
Item: Palouse gets refresher in free speech: State warns mayor against limiting comments during public meetings in town/David Johnson, Lewiston Tribune
More Info: After receiving some unsolicited advice from Washington state’s ombudsman on open government, Mayor Michael Echanove on Monday declared a resumption of free speech at city council meetings. “Someone can always come in and say the mayor is a bonehead,” said Echanove, who’s been at the helm of this Whitman County town since 2001. “That doesn’t bother me in the least.” But prior to receiving a letter last week from Tim Ford, assistant Washington attorney general for government accountability, Echanove had protected paid city employees from public criticism.
Question: How much guff should a mayor allow during the public forum at a City Council meeting?
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
999 W. Riverside, Spokane, WA 99201
P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210
Main switchboard: (509) 459-5000 • (800) 338-8801
Newsroom: (509) 459-5400 • (800) 789-0029
Customer service: (800) 338-8801
© Copyright 2012, The Spokesman-Review
Terms of use • Privacy policy • Copyright policy
Find DFO on Facebook
DFO on Twitter
JamesBond on March 31 at 10:10 a.m.
Short of threats and actual violence, public officials must stand for any and all criticism.
danofthecommunity on March 31 at 11:22 a.m.
While the public always retains the right to criticize their elected officials, there is a time and place for everything. The intent of most public meetings is not just for public input but for discussion and decisions by public officials.
The public’s right to criticize their officials in public meetings must also be balanced by the needs and expectations that those public meetings also complete needed business on behalf of all the public.
It’s a matter of balance.