Waiting for our phone call

Photojournalist Mark Bralley and I went to chat with the Mayor
yesterday. Mayor Richard Berry gave constituents the chance
to sit and chat with him for five minutes.

We went to ask for relief from discrimination at the hands of his PIO Chris Huffman-Ramirez.

Bralley and I are bloggers.

There is no doubt in any reasonable mind that Bralley, I, and
other bloggers are entitled to the protection of the First Amendment which reads in significant part;

"Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom .. of the press..."

Loosely, but accurately translated; The Office of the Mayor
shall make no rule abridging the freedom of the press.
The Office of the Mayor shall make no rule that treats members
of the press disparately. What is done for one, is done for all.
What is done for the establishment press is done for the
non-establishment press, and yes for the anti-establishment
press as well.

Then comes Huffman-Ramirez and his determination that
"you aren't the press unless you own a printing press or a
broadcast license".

We argued that when the founding fathers offered constitutional protection of our human right to be a free press, they offered that protection to bloggers. We weren't called bloggers then of course, we were called pamphleteers, wikilink.

Richard Berry listened. He promised to get back to us.

Huffman-Ramirez just sat there looking arrogant and

wearing his supercilious little smirk.

Gotta wonder what he knows
that we don't.

Update; 11am, just got a call from Huffman-Ramirez. He said that nothing will change; Bralley and I are still denied our "credentials".

I asked him if he would mind putting his position in writing. He declined. He said the Mayor promised us a phone call and that's all were getting.

Consequently my estimation of the character and the courage of

Mayor Richard Berry is
diminished considerably.




photos Mark Bralley