60,000 letters to St. Paul mayor seek charge drops for all arrested journos.

[babsbunny]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/timothy-karr/st-paul-authorities-get-t_b_124293.html

Journalists and St. Paul citizens assembled outside St. Paul City Hall today to deliver more than 60,000 letters to Mayor Chris Coleman and prosecuting attorneys demanding that they immediately drop charges against all journalists arrested this week as they covered the Republican National Convention

By Friday morning, dozens of journalists, photographers, bloggers and videomakers had been booked by the Ramsey County Sheriff's office in what appears to have been an orchestrated round-up of media makers covering protests during the convention.

"From the pre-convention raids to the ongoing harassment and arrests of journalists, these have been dark days for press freedom in the United States," said Nancy Doyle Brown of the Twin Cities Media Alliance, who delivered the letters on behalf of the nonpartisan media reform group Free Press.

Stories That Will Never Be Told

She was joined by a crowd of local activists and journalists, including Amy Goodman and Nicole Salazar of Democracy Now!, KFAI-FM radio host Andy Driscoll and Mike Bucsko, executive director of the Minnesota Newspaper Guild.

[Eric J in MN]

1. The mayor filled the streets with tear gas, night after night.

I hope Chris Coleman doesn't seek re-election or another office.

[azurnoir]

2. Chris Coleman won for no other reason than

he was not Randy Kelly the Dem mayor of St Paul who campaigned for Bush in '04. Once St Paulites realize how this fiasco is going to impact their bank accounts I dou8bt he'll run for anything.

[Eric J in MN]

3. The Republicans bought $10 million in insurance for police brutality claims...

...on behalf of the city, and so it won't necessarily cost the city much financially.

It's just unethical to tear gas a retreating crowd and shoot concussion grenades at them.

Insurance link:
http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/conventions/27818659.html

[azurnoir]

4. I will bend over backwards to be fair

Was this insurance purchased before or after the RNC? If before that is evil, they were actually financing and promoting what they knew to civil rights violations, and that "needs legs" to say the least.

[seemslikeadream]

5. You know I thought Richard J Daley had died?