September 14, 2017
At last night’s city council meeting, Matt Kunz made a weeping apology for his reprehensible behavior at the previous city council meeting. Over the past few weeks, Kunz has been all over the board with comments about his inexcusable behavior. With his public comments and on-line posts, he kept digging a deeper and deeper hole for himself. First, he stated he was merely “coaching” Joe Longoria to be a better “player.” (It seems every situation in Mr. Kunz’s life lends itself to a football analogy.) Then, he decided a better tack was to assert that Joe Longoria was the aggressor and he (Kunz) was just standing his ground. Now he is apologizing for the “tone” of his comments and for kicking an injured player when he is down (yes, a fitting football analogy).
And of course, Kunz takes the obligatory swipe at citizens that have dared to criticize him at this blog and elsewhere. Furthermore, he makes an assertion that has become a tedious refrain at council meetings. Kunz and other Council members assert that citizens who criticize and expose local politicians are “violating the First Amendment” and “abusing their First Amendment rights.” It is furthermore asserted that such criticism is slanderous and is hate speech that might lead to violence in Milton. Ironically, the closest we have come to violence in Milton is Mr. Kunz’s rage incident a few weeks ago.
Sadly, Mr. Kunz is mirroring assaults (from both the extreme right and extreme left) on Free Speech (and other First Amendment rights) that we are seeing on the national level. An example is the establishment of Free Speech “zones” on most college campuses–a painted box on some pavement in an obscure part of campus, where students are allowed to express their political views. I suspect that we will soon see attempts by some council members to limit public comment at City Council meetings. We have already witnessed a few attempts by council members to prod the City into issuing “official” positions on controversial policy issues.
Some City Council members’ profound ignorance and/or disregard for the Constitution should be of great concern to citizens, as council members take an oath to uphold the Constitution. How can you uphold laws that you fundamentally don’t understand and/or don’t respect?
I will leave you will a little levity. Following is a humorous YouTube video about a “YouTube Apology Service.” (And yes, this blog can sometimes get a little snarky.)
Advocating For Accountability and Free Speech,
Tim Becker
Milton Coalition 