The Sequel: Minneapolis Park Board President vs. Free Speech
This is what happened after the ACLU petitioned the Minneapolis Park Board on behalf of a citizen whose "Open Time" statement urging the board not to renew the superintendent's contract was cut off by the Park Board President.
At that May 2, 2007 meeting, the board president ordered the citizen to stop speaking when she said the current park administration failed to comply with the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act by not honoring all requests for public information. When the ACLU of Minnesota intervened, the board allowed her to speak at its May 16 meeting, but only after they had already voted to renew the superintendent's contract. And still she couldn't speak freely for her allotted time because of the Park Board President's propensity to interrupt and interrogate her. Again the Park Board President tried to cut her off within her three minute limit. Only when another commissioner insisted she be allowed to continue was she able to finish the three-minute statement she had started two weeks earlier.