Free Speech

At today's press conference, Council Member Schiff and I were joined by Chuck Samuelson, director of the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union, and representatives of Women Against Military Madness, and Minnesota ACORN and OutFront Minnesota in opposing the proposed Ostrow/Remington protest registration process.




We have also received a letter from Bill McCarthy, President of the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation that states, in part, the following:




"It remains our position that the proposed Resolution is a solution in search of a problem. We do not need it." Bill goes on to state that Labor remains "concerned... about provisions in the Resolution that appear to give broad discretion to the police to restrict First Amendment activities in the event that a particular organization chooses not to register... Thus, although there is no formal penalty for declining to register, it appears that in at least two places the Resolution grants to the police undefined discretion to restrict First Amendment activity based on the decision not to register."




I couldn't have stated these concerns better myself. I hope that my colleagues read this letter carefully, along with similar letters from the MCLU and others, before making their decisions Friday.