Censorship?
Uniontown Mayor Ed Fike’s either unaware of the state’s Sunshine Act, which is inexcusable, or he’s willfully ignoring it, which is even worse. Fike recently admitted that he doesn’t want Uniontown City Councilman Gary Gearing taping council’s public meetings and sending them to California University of Pennsylvania’s television station, CUTV, for broadcasting.
Despite no evidence, Fike said he’s worried that Gearing, an outspoken critic of the mayor, is editing the tapes before they’re broadcast.
However, no matter what Gearing’s doing or not doing with the tapes, Fike has no legal grounds to try and ban the recordings.
That was made clear by Melissa Melewsky, an attorney with the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, which helped draft the Sunshine Act, mandating transparency in local and state government.
“The mayor does not have a legal standing to bar anyone from recording the meeting,”said Melewsky. “Any member of the public, whether an elected official or not, has the right to record a public meeting – audio, video or any type of recording they want to make. That’s expressly stated in the Sunshine Act.”
Gearing said Fike called him into his office a couple hours before the July 7 council meeting and told him he wasn’t allowed to continue recording the meetings.
“I said, ‘I’m bringing a camera.’ He said, he’d have me arrested and confiscate my camera,” Gearing said.
While Fike denies making any threats to arrest Gearing, he admits that he doesn’t want him to continue taping the meetings.
“We want it filmed. We want it to go out to the people,” Fike said. “There were no threats. I said we wanted it done professionally.”
Fike and Councilman Philip Michael said they have talked to Kingfish Worldwide Inc. of Uniontown about recording the meetings and sending the tapes to CUTV. But if they were serious, why didn’t they already do it? As they say, talk is cheap and action speaks louder than words.
And you have to wonder if Kingfish Worldwide Inc. will provide the service for free as Gearing has done. Seriously, why choose now to initiate a search for professional videotaping other than you don’t like the guy currently doing it?
Perhaps there would be a reason to seek a professional if there was evidence that Gearing was editing the tapes. Alas, there is none. Neither Fike nor Michael could produce any evidence to support that point. In fact, Michael said he hasn’t even watched the tapes.
So, Gearing’s accused of doing something in all probability, he hasn’t done. It’d be laughable if it weren’t so serious.
If they’re committed to an open government as they say, then Fike and Michael should be commending Gearing for taping the meetings. They shouldn’t be threatening or blustering to ban him from taping the meetings, which is downright illegal.
In fact, all city residents owe a debt of gratitude to Gearing for providing such a valuable public service. They should be thankful that they have such a public official dedicated to real open government. And residents should let Fike and Michael know how much they’re disappointed with them. Their attempt to silence Gearing speaks volumes about their real intentions as city officials.