Jim Nintzel, Tucson Weekly Reports on Oro Valley "Dopey Bureucrats"

Thanks to Jim Nintzel's "The Skinny" in the Tucson Weekly who has a "unique way" of reporting our issue. He tells it as it is!
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Art
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PUBLISHED ON JANUARY 24, 2008:

The Skinny

By JIM NINTZEL

LOVE LETTER

The dopey bureaucrats in Oro Valley recently showed how dumb they are again when they demanded that a local blogger register with the state.

The Oro Valley town clerk has sent Art Segal, who writes a blog called LOVE, or Let Oro Valley Excel, a letter telling him he would be in violation of state campaign laws if he didn't register his blog as a political committee.

Segal has evidently gotten under the skin of some Oro Valley staffers and elected officials with his persistent criticism of the way the town is run.

It may be hard for government officials in Oro Valley to understand all this "citizen journalist" stuff. But here's the deal: We do still have freedom of expression in this country, even in Oro Valley.

That means we can express an opinion, whether it's in a newspaper, in a blog or just on a sheet of paper we stick on a windshield in the Wal-Mart parking lot.

Oro Valley officials have a long history of trying to squash dissenting voices--and a long history of losing, too. The chickenshit stunts over the years include citing citizens who were gathering referendum signatures in a park.

Hell, the town is probably the only place where perennial candidate Joe Sweeney has won a legal fight, over the right to put up his congressional campaign signs. When you can't legally outmaneuver Sweeney, it's time to get new lawyers.

The end result of trying silence someone like Art Segal: more traffic for his blog. Nice of you to help out, Oro Valley!