On April 1, City Council voted 6-2 to direct the City Manager and City Attorney to draft a resolution designating the Mayor as the sole spokesperson of the City for emergencies and “high-level” issues, effectively restricting the speech of City Council representatives.
The co-sponsors of the agenda item, Reps. Art Fierro and Deanna Maldonado-Rocha, claim the aim of the proposed policy is to disseminate correct information during crises and prevent confusion, but its obvious purpose is to stifle dissent.
Only Reps. Acevedo and Canales voted “nay.”
During discussion, City Attorney Karla Nieman stated, “In speaking with my colleagues across the state, none of the cities that have a city manager form of government have anything like this.”
City Manager Dionne Mack claimed Dallas has a policy similar to the one under consideration but Engle checked with Dallas and confirmed this is false, which was then corroborated by City Spokeswoman Laura Cruz-Acosta.
KVIA TAKES A STAND
We were the first media outlet to report on this issue but apparently not the only one feeling alarmed.
Today Lesley Engle, Content Manager for ABC-7 and one of the most respected investigative journalists in El Paso, sent a letter to the Mayor and City Council strongly opposing the proposed policy, which would “limit and restrict public discussion by elected officials.”
According to Engle, the policy “risks creating message control at the expense of transparency.”
This afternoon we spoke to the General Manager of the network, Brenda De Anda-Swann, who confirmed that Engle’s letter accurately represents the position of KVIA.
We hope other local media outlets will also have the courage to take a stand against the proposed City policy, which would be an intolerable violation of the First Amendment to the US Constitution.