Make room for dissent

[struggle4progress]

INDOT ought to welcome, not constrain, peaceful and lawful opposition.

Bob Caylor
[e-mail]

<snip> In recent weeks, opponents of the planned extension of I-69 through southern Indiana who attend public hearings staged by the Indiana Department of Transportation have been barred from setting up information tables or displays or banners in public spaces reserved for INDOT. The agency has even banned the protesters from handing out leaflets or passing petitions among audience members. <snip>

No matter how firmly bureaucrats think their minds are closed to new arguments, they need to remember that they are public servants. They owe it to Hoosiers whose incomes and spending support state government to listen. Perhaps they tire of hearing opposition; their weariness shouldn't matter. State government needs to make reasonable accommodation for its opponents. <snip>

In all the hundreds of public meetings we've witnessed, we don't remember any events that seemed likely to spawn winning personal-injury lawsuits. Sometimes people turn rude. Sometimes they raise their voices uncivilly. But that's about as rough as we've seen public hearings get.

In the very unlikely event unhappy constituents actually begin rioting, they can be removed and charged with disorderly conduct. Passing out leaflets and circulating petitions isn't in the same league, and the state's explanation for squelching these actions just isn't plausible. It's not too much to ask of state officials that they endure some unpleasant exchanges. <snip>

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/editorial/11892218.htm