" Mr. Aymond is not a member of the reporting media. His letter was not a public records request; rather, it was a request for a written discussion with him. The items requested have been related by the Mayor in great detail at numerous press briefings. The two discussion items, rebates and attorney fees, not fully related in those briefings will be treated as follows: as to rebates, the subject will be addressed by formal, written and oral report to the public in a press conference next week; and as to the latter, those issues are for the Council to address, not the mayor. Office staff were instructed to inform Mr. Aymond on these matters today and refer the balance of his comments/requests to Charles Johnson, City Attorney.
On a related note, the Administration of the City of Alexandria tries to respond to any citizen request; however, requests in the nature of discussions with blog moderators must be considered on an individual basis. The Administration reserves the right to interview with credentialed members of the media and blog moderators who strive toward unbiased reporting.
The Administrative Briefing was canceled because of media scheduling issues, not because of the Mayor's lack of interest." id.
If Mr. White was indeed speaking on behalf of the Roy administration, I will respond thusly:
First, watch the video again (in A LACK OF TRANSPARANCY FOR SOME IN THE CITY OF ALEXANDRIA). Mayor Roy said that citizens could ask questions about the Cleco settlement. He did not say a member of the reporting media.
This blog is a form of the reporting media by the way. It reports news in an electronic form. This blog has been linked, many times, to both C.N.N, and the Wall Street Journal. It does research on its reports and conducts interviews. Blogs have been described as:
"Many bloggers, particularly those engaged in participatory journalism, differentiate themselves from the mainstream media, while others are members of that media working through a different channel. Some institutions see blogging as a means of "getting around the filter" and pushing messages directly to the public.****
Many mainstream journalists, meanwhile, write their own blogs — well over 300, according to CyberJournalist.net's J-blog list. The first known use of a blog on a news site was in August 1998, when Jonathan Dube of The Charlotte Observer published one chronicling Hurricane Bonnie." (See: "Blog").
Michele Godard, the news director of KALB TV, said, in an interview I conducted with her, that blogging is a form of citizen journalism. ( INTERVIEW: MICHELE GODARD, NEWS DIRECTOR KALB). Even Town Talk newspaper reporters have blogs.
So no matter what name you care to give me, citizen or citizen journalist, I have the same right to information from my elected officials as does anyone else.
And no, my request was not a public records request. It was merely some questions on the Cleco settlement as Mayor Roy himself solicited.
Mr. White said that "Office staff were instructed to inform Mr. Aymond on these matters today and refer the balance of his comments/requests to Charles Johnson, City Attorney." No person from the City's administration had any contact with me, and that doesn't explain why it has taken a month to get a response.
Additionally, as Lamar White stated, the "Administration of the City of Alexandria tries to respond to any citizen request; however, requests in the nature of discussions with blog moderators must be considered on an individual basis." That is, plain and simple, the right of the administration to stifle my free speech by decided whom they are willing to give public information to.
Furthermore, Mr. White's e-mail to me stated that "The Administration reserves the right to interview with credentialed members of the media and blog moderators who strive toward unbiased reporting." This is also a violation of the equal protection clause of the United states Constitution. Will Mayor Roy decide who is "unbiased" and if I am biased?
Lastly, Mr. White's statement that "The Administrative Briefing was canceled because of media scheduling issues, not because of the Mayor's lack of interest." The mayor's secretary told me, at approximately 11:00 this morning, that the mayor was on KSYL Radio this morning and due to no media going to show up for his administrative briefing he cancelled it.
I will await a further response from Mayor Roy officially. But in the meantime, I will consider my rights to a federal lawsuit for violations of the equal protection clause and the first amendment.
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