This is when you fight city hall
There’s an old saying about how you can’t fight city hall. I’ve always rejected it, in part because I’ve seen too many people do so successfully, but one has to understand that local governments can be particularly malicious when going after those who criticize it.
I, personally, had a number of suspicious run-ins with local code enforcement officers after I started taking issue with the local government here, for example.
But one woman is getting some help from FIRE after her fight with city hall got out of hand.
Legal help is reportedly on the way for an Arizona resident arrested for criticizing her city government during a public meeting last week.
On Monday, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a First Amendment advocacy group, indicated plans to sue the city of Surprise after its mayor had local activist Rebekah Massie detained for scrutinizing a city employee during the locality’s Aug. 20 City Council meeting.
“The First Amendment protects every American’s right to criticize public officials,” FIRE Attorney Conor Fitzpatrick said in a statement given to The Federalist. “The last thing people should fear when they go to a city council meeting to make their voice heard is leaving in handcuffs.”
During her testimony, Massie “questioned the city attorney’s performance and compensation,” according to The Arizona Republic, before being stopped by Mayor Skip Hall, who accused her of “attacking the city attorney personally” and violating rules governing public meetings.
Massie called the guidelines “unconstitutional” and alleged that by refusing to allow her to speak freely, Hall was “violating” her “First Amendment rights.”
Hall subsequently threatened to have Massie removed if she did not cease her criticisms. Following a short back-and-forth with Massie, Hall asked an attending police officer to remove her from the meeting.
Now, understand that Massie was clearly taking issue with the city attorney as pertains to his role as city attorney. There was no personal attack. The city is funneling a ton of money toward an attorney that Massie, as a citizen, thinks exceeds what is warranted.
When you work for a city, your pay is public and people are free to opine over that.
For Massie to be arrested because she attacked his performance as a taxpayer-paid attorney is beyond ridiculous. It’s vile.
I’m glad FIRE is coming to help her.
However, let’s also understand that local governments often figure they can get away with a level of oppression well beyond what even the federal government would dare try to get away with. They’ll restrict what you can do on your own property, and not just from a physical safety standpoint. They’ll decide where you can open your business and whether you can have it at all.
And if you stand up in a public meeting and take issue with an employee you think is overpaid based on their performance, you can find yourself told to sit down and shut up, then arrested if you insist on standing up for yourself.
This is alarming and all too common.
Local officials throughout the nation have a disgusting habit of belittling and disregarding concerned citizens who disagree with what the city is doing. These are elected officials who think they don’t have to worry about what the peons think.
Why is that?
It wouldn’t take much to think that they’re the people with their fingers on the pulse of how votes get counted. After all, that’s a city or county function, with these officials often having close relationships with the parties in charge of the elections.
Is that happening? I have no evidence saying it is beyond the fact that there’s absolutely no concern by these officials for how bad they look before the public that supposedly elects them.
But I can’t help but wonder.
In a better world—we don’t even need a perfect one, just one better than this—such officials would fall on their swords in a very literal manner. They’d recognize their errors and know that only an honorable death would remove the stain.
Instead, they think they did something good. They’re proud of themselves for it.
And this is where future presidents get their start, far too often.
It’s just something to think about.
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This is the kind of government corruption horror story that gets my attention. Local abuse of power is the reason why I am skeptical of those who say power should be pushed down to the lowest level possible. Accountability is not easier to achieve at the local level. I think it is more important that some form of checks and balances are in place, so that there is always a watchdog able to hold officials of any level accountable.