John Masiarczyk, Mayor,
2345 Providence Blvd.,
Deltona, FLA 32725.

Mayor and Commissioners:

Your attention is directed to a news article available on the web:
http://news.findlaw.com/ap/o/1110/6-7-2002/20020607120011_18.html
I believe that the relevance will be immediately clear. Sorry about the long link; see this letter on the web under http://www.payer.org/city if you don’t want to type that whole link. The matter is of course persuasive rather than determinative, as it was determined by a state court outside of Florida.

In general, it is considered rude to have people arrested and handcuffed for expressing their views at public meetings. Polite elected officials make a point of hearing their constituents, including those whose views do not find immediate favor.

Actually, most polite elected officials pretend to listen to those whose views they do not favor. By pretending to listen, they accomplish several things:

• cultivate image of being ‘‘open to ideas’’
• fool the public into thinking they have influence
• avoid messy problems with arrests
• avoid bad press for arresting citizens
• don’t offend people by ‘‘brushing them off’’

The citizens elected you. We can, from that fact, make inferences as to the quality of their views and the importance of listening, as opposed to pretending to listen. From the fact that you have arranged arrest, we can infer your decision as to the value of citizen input.

Yours,



Tanner Andrews

CC: Al Everson / DeLand Beacon

This material is a paid political advertisement provided by

from @(#)delt0201.txt 1.0 11-Jun-2002

proc with @(#)hmac.ta2 1.1a 01-Jun-2000