Claremont Insider: Free Speech Update

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Free Speech Update

The Daily Bulletin carried a letter from Dean McHenry today criticizing the city for it response to Paystubgate.

McHenry defended the Insider from the city's attempt at prior restraint:

Rather than apologizing to the citizens of Claremont for its violation of their right to know, the city decided to attack the messenger over the form in which the information was provided. The city did not simply ask that the blurry, scanned copy of two pay slips be removed from the blog, it demanded the complete removal of the whole Web site. That is equivalent to a demand that the Daily Bulletin be shut down because someone did not like the way information was being presented.

McHenry's letter ends by pointing out the irony that Claremont is celebrating it's centennial (second one in the past 20 years) by quashing free speech.