FERLO: Free-Speech Zones "Morally, Politically and Constitutionally Un-Acceptable"

I'm more than a little late covering this kerfuffle, but it's a neat kerfuffle. On Friday July 24, the Tribune-Review ran an article which led like so:

Sen. Jim Ferlo wants the city's permission to turn Point State Park into a free-speech zone for activists the day before the Group of 20 economic summit begins Downtown. (Trib, Jeremy Boren)

Later that day, Sen. Ferlo released to the media a copy of the permit request he had sent to Chief Harper and Director Huss, along with a letter directly to Mr. Boren:

Respectfully, I have been in public life for over 25 years and while I have taken exception to various editorials and news reporting I have never written and asked for a correction or retraction. The headline and your own reporting of an interview with me following the release of my letter to local public safety officials amounts to the pusillanimous neglect of accuracy and truth! I never , either in written word or our phone conversation, used the phrase or suggested a so-called "free-speech zone". A so-called "free speech zone" violates our right of free speech and assembly---anywhere! It would amount to me telling you and the Trib and Mr. Scaife that you could only sell or pass out the Trib at certain public intersections....

And more. That's about as definitive a denial and rebuke as it gets. However, I couldn't help but remember a similar article published by the Post-Gazette on June 5:

But, Mr. Ferlo added, he also hopes that protesters' voices will be heard during the event, preferably in a peaceful "free speech" venue near the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, where leaders will be meeting.

-snip-

So, he's readying a proposal for a free speech zone -- an area for protesters with a stage and a public address system -- near Liberty Avenue, perhaps between the Doubletree Hotel and 10th Street. (P-G, Mackenzie Carpenter)

That first article actually provoked some chiding sarcasm from this blog at the time. I inquired to Sen. Ferlo's office why the blistering rebuke of the Trib in late July, but no response for a similar article published in early June.

I got this response from his office:

Regarding your inquiry about the previous Mackenzie Carpenter article, it is my impression that she did not so much err, but demonstrated her own misunderstanding of a particular phrase and its original meanings vs. common usage. At the same time, Senator Ferlo knows the difference between a permitted event and a designated "free speech zone," and in direct response to Mackenzie's article, could have perhaps done more to raise overall public awareness about the difference.

And then, after a further iteration of his position:

An accurate representation from local independent media

http://2politicaljunkies.blogspot.com/2009/07/sen-ferlo-trib-misrepresents-me.html

Thoughts:

1) How can you stay mad at a guy who links to Maria like that?

2) I think Ferlo probably found the Trib a more convenient piñata than the P-G for driving home his point, since they essentially made the same error.

3) Regardless of that and far more importantly, I'm glad to learn Sen. Ferlo doesn't subscribe to the ethos of "free speech zones" and am convinced what we read above represents not some political/semantic conversion but rather a long and deeply held conviction. The moment the G-20 was announced, Ferlo jumped out front on this issue -- and sometimes by taking leadership, one incurs the risk of being misunderstood or becoming a target. The way that Pittsburgh comports itself toward dissenters I think will go further than anything else to determine how "successful" the event will be for our region. This is one of those situations where I'm glad we have Ferlo around.

Considering:

Councilman Jim Motznik said officers need to be ready for the worst, including the possibility that some protesters will turn violent. "I believe when they go over the boundaries, they need to be dealt with, and dealt with severely," he said. (P-G, Jerome L. Sherman)

Judge Dredd over here!