When Some Government Lackey Goes Bully On You
Wise advice from Popehat's Ken White -- "The Trick In Dealing With Government: Find The Grown-Up In The Room":
Some consequences -- often, but not always, inflicted by the government -- are illegitimate. Warren, a business owner who writes at Coyote Blog, encountered such a consequence. When he expressed himself on his blog and linked to a negative Yelp review of a government agency, a functionary from that agency threatened him with loss of government contracts:Well, one day I got a letter via email from a regional manager of the state parks agency whose park was the subject of that Yelp review I linked. I was notified that I had 48 hours to remove that blog post or I would lose all my contracts with that state. In particular, they did not like a) the fact that I linked to a negative Yelp review of one of their parks and b) that I impugned the incredibly noble idea that state parks are all operated by law enforcement officials.There are a lot of things Warren could have done. I'm sure there are a lot of things he was tempted to do, as I would have been. Instead of doing the most viscerally satisfying thing, the most "just" thing, or the most "righteous" thing, Warren did the most effective thing for his business and for the immediate preservation of his freedom of speech: he engaged with the grown-up in the room.
Love what Warren did -- wrote to the General Counsel of the agency, asking her to clarify the boundaries of prior restraint (on speech) vis a vis his doing business with them. Read the rest at the link.
It's actually somewhat surprising that there WAS an adult in the room, in an agency like the one described in Ken's article and Warren's original post. I'd almost have expected the counsel to double down.
Grey Ghost at March 18, 2013 7:21 AM
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