Members of council will review the council’s self-imposed prohibition against the discussion of partisan politics on the township’s cable channel in light of the recent election season.
During the council’s October 26 meeting, Councilman Charles Morgan suggested the council look at the policy after a public comment made by council candidate Andrew Hersh during a recent (taped) council meeting in which he announced the “571 Day” he had organized. Township Attorney Michael Herbert had issued an opinion that Hersh was violating the township’s policy, which states that partisan politics cannot be aired on the cable channel within 60 days of an election, Morgan said.
The opinion prompted an E-mail from Hersh to the council and began E-mail conversations between Morgan and others on council over the definition of “partisan.”
As it has been interpreted in this case by township officials, Morgan said, no one can make public service announcements about events taking place in the community that are not government-sponsored. “We’re either going to shut down all of that advocacy, which I think is important communication for the community, or we’re going to change our code,” said Morgan. “We’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t.”
“It’s a catch 22 because the channel is not a public access channel; it’s a government and education channel, which is very restrictive,” he added. “We have to allow public comment by law, but when they can speak to any issue they want, it’s beginning to become a public access channel.”
When the council first began taping its meetings, it did not allow the taping of the public comment period for this reason, Morgan said.
Morgan said he does not believe there is a right answer to the problem. He does believe that if the council is not going to allow the televising of anything that is public access in nature, then it cannot be televising public comment at all. “Can’t we have a quasi-government channel that allows some advocacy?”
The policy currently in place is self-imposed. If the council changes it to a public access channel, it cannot deny the public from accessing it for programming.
Geevers said the rule is that no one is allowed to campaign on the channel. “Once you’re a candidate, it’s difficult to say that anything you say during public comment isn’t political,” she said. “The problem was that Mr. Hersh sounded as if he was promoting himself and his background. That isn’t allowed.”
Someone can take a position on an issue, “but if you start promoting your background, most people would take that as campaigning,” Geevers added.
Geevers said that Hersh was also promoting the Route 571 rally. “While he said it wasn’t a campaign event, I think any type of rally that a candidate organizes two weeks before the election will be seen as a political event,” she said, adding that she feels the policy should be reviewed.
