Tom Nordyke, Jon Gurban

Every couple of years, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board makes headlines for violating citizens’ right to free speech. The latest example? The board’s president, Tom Nordyke, and superintendent, Jon Gurban, are banning the Minneapolis Charter Commission from holding public meetings at park buildings because the commission’s topic is a proposed charter amendment that would eliminate the Park Board.

Last week, according to the Star Tribune’s Steve Brandt, Nordyke told Charter Commission Chairman Jim Bernstein that the Park Board’s objection was to the content of the speech that would take place at the commission’s public meetings:

I cannot support holding the meetings in our buildings and wasting more taxpayer dollars and staff time on this initiative.

Bernstein ran unsuccessfully for park board in 2005. That same year, the suprintendent sicced police on another park board candidate who was attempting to distribute flyers for his reform campaign at a city park. Gurban told park board candidate Jason Stone to stop handing out campaign literature on park property and eventually called park police. The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota (ACLU-MN) intervened on Stone’s behalf.

Reporter Scott Russell quoted Gurban in the Southwest Journal:

Jason would say: “How are you this evening?” My response would be, “Jason, you can’t do this. And you know better. You were at that meeting last Wednesday night. Stop doing this.” … Am I happy three squad cars showed up? No, I am not. I know those squad cars have better things to do than to deal with an issue like this. If I was Jason Stone, I would be a little bit embarrassed about that. All Jason had to do was to stop handing out his literature.

Stone lost his 2005 race and is running for a place on the park board again this year.

Two years ago, Nordyke’s predecessor as board president, Jon Olson, wouldn’t let a citizen criticize Gurban during “open time” at board meetings. As the Star Tribune’s Pam Louwagie reported, the ACLU-MN again intervened after Olson cut off Minneapolis resident Arlene Fried, a co-founder of the citizen watchdog group Minneapolis Parkwatch, in the midst of a statement critical of Gurban:

FRIED: … Four: Failing to comply with the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act by not honoring all requests for public information. Five: Withholding of information from commissioners and the public, for example –
OLSON: Um, Ma’am … 
FRIED: These are governmental issues. 
OLSON: Okay, do you have documentation that we have failed to comply with the open Data Practices Act?
FRIED: I’m aware of it.
OLSON: You know, this is not — I’m going to cut you off right there. I’m going to cut you off.
FRIED: Excuse me. Excuse me. You can do that –
OLSON: Thank you very much and you have a good night. Thank you. And we’ll move on to our next speaker –
FRIED: Freedom of speech. You’re denying me freedom of speech.
OLSON: I don’t think so. I’m not going to allow you to get up there and make accusations like that, that we violated the law.

May 2, 2007:

After the ACLU-MN intervened, Fried tried again at the May 16, 2007 meeting. In this second clip, Nordyke (who was not the board’s president at the time) persuades Olson to let Fried finish her statement.

Disclosure: I know Fried and have worked with her on several park-related issues, including posting these two clips from the official park board meeting videos to YouTube. I also wrote a January 2008 commentary for the Daily Mole expressing hope that newly elected President Nordyke would raise the park board’s standard of transparency, accountability and professionalism.

Over the past day, Gretchen Carlson, a co-host of “Fox & Friends” and the last Minnesotan to become Miss America (1989), invoked her local roots as part of a full-court press to put the issue – now an annual holiday tradition in its own right at Fox News — back on the national front burner. She started with a segment Wednesday morning on a controversy about a religious display at the Washington state Capitol. That night Bill O’Reilly, who has been working the latest wrinkles in this ratings-boosting war for at least a week, invited Carlson to appear on “The O’Reilly Factor.” Her gist: Freedom of speech is fine, but not on Christmas Day.

Transcript excerpts after the jump. Gretchen Carlson with Bill O’Reilly on “The O’Reilly Factor,” Dec. 10, 2008:

O’REILLY: So you were brought up in Minnesota, right?

CARLSON: Exactly.

O’REILLY: OK, now think back many, many years ago to when you were a child.

CARLSON: Thank you, Bill.

O’REILLY: I do that to everybody. None of this existed, correct?

CARLSON: No, my grandfather was a minister. So I have to – I’ll say that because I grew up spending a lot of time in the church.

O’REILLY: But none of it existed. There was no controversy over Christmas. …

CARLSON: We actually called it Christmas. …

O’REILLY: … What’s changed?

CARLSON: What’s changed is the whole politically correct environment that we live in. I’m all for people to have their rights of free speech. Just don’t choose December 25th to do it.

O’REILLY: Well, don’t be disrespectful. You can have freedom of speech without being disrespectful.

This morning, Carlson’s “Fox & Friends” co-host Steve Doocy picked up where O’Reilly left off in trying to talk her down.

DOOCY: We’ve got to be tolerant of people who celebrate holidays in December, like Ramadan [sic]. We’ve got to be tolerant. You’ve got to be tolerant of all people.

CARLSON: I am tolerant. I’m all for free speech and free rights, just not on December 25th.

That’s not the end of it, though: The digital billboard’s sponsor, True Blue Minnesota, is heading to court this afternoon in hopes of winning back the right to present the videos.

A 527 group, True Blue Minnesota has long planned to park a pair of mobile digital billboards just off the intersection of John Ireland Boulevard and Kellogg, within eye-shot of next week’s Republican National Convention. The group obtained a permit from the city, the land’s owner, back in April. But on Wednesday, the Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board (CAAP), which also has jurisdiction over the space, held a vote over the project, tying 5 to 5, along party lines. Molnau cast the deciding no-vote, citing traffic-safety concerns.

Martha Ballou, president of True Blue Minnesota, says such concerns are “phony,” citing the low speed limits at the intersection, the low impact of the project, and the fact that the signs will be placed a fair distance from the road. “The capitol area is the front lawn for politics in Minnesota, and everyone goes there with a variance,” she told me. “Taste of Minnesota has operated there. They granted a variance to The Daily Show. The only one they haven’t granted one to is us.”

It’s interesting, she adds, that only the CAAP’s Republican members raised safety concerns. “They’re kneecapping political opposition during the Republican convention and using government means to do so.”

Some heavy-hitters are contributing to the Jumbotrons’ video content: Phil Donahue contributed “Body of War.” John Cusick offered up “War, Inc.” And “Outfoxed” filmmaker Robert Greenwald is making available his entire film library. Ballou suspects this content, as well as videos submitted by citizens, is what prompted Molnau’s vote.

“Everybody wants [the RNC] to go well. And the way this can go well is to allow everyone to have their say,” Ballou says. “How much more peaceful can you be then a huge outdoor television? But we do have pictures of people at Abu Ghraib. We will put the GOP record up. That’s what they’re trying to stop. This is a critical constitutional issue for everyone in Minnesota.”

At 3 p.m. this afternoon, Ballou will appear in Ramsey County court seeking a temporary restraining order against Molnau and the CAAP board so the project can go on as planned.

Related: Amid ‘paranoia’ CBS Outdoor pulls ‘Soldiers’ billboards

Vlad Teichberg, Olivia Katz and Anita Braithwaite are from the New York-based Glass Bead Collective, a new media arts group. Among the equipment taken: video cameras, still cameras, laptops, notebooks, money and other personal belongings.

Teichberg said police officers stopped them around 2 a.m. after they got off the number 17 Metro Transit bus near NE 7th St. and 27th Ave.  According to Teichberg, police officers said there had been suspicious activity in the neighborhood, including a robbery, and officers proceeded to question them about their plans while also snapping photos and searching them, despite their objections. “We didn’t have any burglary tools,” said Teichberg. When they asked the officers if they were being arrested, “We were told we were being detained.”

According to a statement from the collective, the officers refused to file an official incident report or fill out a receipt inventorying seized property, claiming that they were allowed to conduct the search and seizure under the jurisdiction of Homeland Security due to security risks leading up to the
Republican National Convention.

Afterwards, the three journalists/artists were released without receiving any charges or tickets. (Police kept their belongings.) Teichberg said he recently learned that the Minneapolis Police Department is claiming they are being investigated for trespassing on train tracks. “We were targeted. They knew who we were. This was an attempt not to let us document what is happening at the convention… They’re taking away the media’s ability to protest,” he said.

Minneapolis Police Department spokesman Sgt. Bill Palmer said the case is under investigation and that there are some discrepancies between what the journalists are alleging and the police officers’ side of the story. “The MPD is not in the business of restricting free speech,” he said. “The actions of the officers appear reasonable.”

In this morning’s Pioneer Press story, attorney Bruce Nestor, who is the president of the Minnesota chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, describes the incident as a preemptive strike on a group that is well known to law enforcement. The collective, he said, has supplied video in court cases including that of a 2007 Critical Mass bike ride in New York City.

Update: Video by Ken Avidor from The UpTake

“Given that ordinances already exist for marches and parades on public streets, and flawed regulations exist for public parks, there simply is no need for this proposed ordinance,” said Minneapolis attorney Bruce Nestor, a member of the guild.

Under the proposal, demonstrators would be required to apply — and to receive a permit — a year ahead of holding protests. The city’s plan comes just a year before the Republican National Convention, which is scheduled to be held in St. Paul August next year. Protest groups have already planned to hold major rallies near the site of the convention.

Nestor says the proposed requirement is clearly designed to curb people from expressing their opinions.

“Any ordinance must also include provisions recognizing spontaneous demonstrations based on recent events. This includes provisions for permitting demonstrations and rallies with less than 24-hour notice,” he said. 

Minneapolis police said the proposed procedure would allow them to effectively handle traffic and notify businesses that could be affected as a result.

Spokesman for Minneapolis Mayor R. T. Rybak said because the mayor has been focused so much on the 35W bridge collapse, he has not had sufficient time to think about the idea.

The Free Speech Committee, a group set up by the city council, is also studying into the issue.

Some protesters said they plan to ignore the city’s permit plan, even if that entails breaking some laws.

“We support and fight for First Amendment rights.  This case is about that,” said Kathi Di Nicola, director of media relations for Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota.  In an interview with Minnesota Monitor, Di Nicola said that the organization was generally supportive of the ruling in State of Minnesota v. Otterstad.

The defendants in the case, Luke Otterstad and Robert Rudnick, were cited by Anoka police for endangering public safety.  According to court records, the two were displaying “two signs on the public sidewalk of the Ferry Street bridge above Highway 10 in Anoka. Both signs were about four feet high, and when displayed side-by-side the two signs looked like one sign about 13 feet long.”  The signs carried a message saying that former congressional candidate Patty Wetterling supported abortion, and according to the court records, included a “graphic picture of an aborted fetus above the highway.”

While the state contended that the signs had posed a threat to public safety, Justice Barry Anderson, writing for the majority, disagreed. Even though there had been an accident reported at the site of the protest, Anderson noted that “the accident on Ferry Street involved drivers who could see only the blank backs of appellants’ signs. While Sergeant [Michael] Goodwin characterized the accident as ‘gawker-related,’ whatever gawking occurred was apparently the result of the police investigation, not appellants’ signs.”

Anderson also said that the protesters had been unconstitutionally targeted for their message.

“The record makes clear … that the anonymous phone call was prompted by the content of the signs, not their effect on traffic,” said Anderson.

In a concurring opinion, Justice Alan Page disagreed that the signs were similar to those usually posted on the road, noting, “I would not equate appellants with ‘road authorities, their agents, employees, contractors, and utilities.’”  But Page said that “would reverse the convictions under the public nuisance statute simply because it is clear on this record that the state’s prosecution of appellants under the statute was content-based and therefore barred by the First Amendment.”

Charles Samuelson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, hailed the ruling.

“Fundamentally, that is a free and political speech case,” Samuelson told the Minnesota Monitor. He cited the “ongoing problem” of police “busting people, especially over the interstate, who have signs that say, ‘Vote for Joe Schmoe,’ or ‘Vote Against Proposition 101.’”

“We’re happy about this ruling,” he said.

And naturally, pro-life activists were pleased as well.  Joe Scheidler, national director of the Pro-Life Action League, called the ruling a “big victory for pro-life activists” in a posting on the group’s website. “This ruling is particularly important to the Pro-Life Acton League and those who have taken part in any of our nearly two-hundred Face the Truth Tours, because we have been likewise threatened with arrest and confiscation of our signs by police in two jurisdictions, Mundelein IL a year ago and Bridgeview IL this year,” Scheidler said.

Di Nicola, however, suggested that anti-abortion activists could take a different tack.

“We would hope that folks that felt so strongly about abortion would do more to provide health care for women – birth control, reproductive health care, concrete things that help women avoid unwanted pregnancy,” she said.