King County Young Republicans Defend Refusal to Allow Videotaping of Assembly Meeting
By Kyle Faucett | July 11, 2011
Background
On Thursday, July 7, King County Young Republicans hosted Attorney General Rob McKenna at our regular monthly assembly meeting at North Bellevue Community Center, which began at 7:00 p.m. McKenna was scheduled for this meeting in September 2010, long before his announcement that he was entering the race for governor.
Zach Wurtz arrived late to the meeting, and stood at a side wall shortly after McKenna began speaking. McKenna told Wurtz that there were seats available in the front row. Wurtz then sat in the center of the front row, and immediately retrieved a video camera from his bag and began recording. He did not ask permission or notify anyone that he would do this. McKenna asked him his name and who he was with, to which he replied “Zach,” “Washington State Democrats.” McKenna asked him if he had permission of anyone to record, and Wurtz insisted he needed no such permission. McKenna then asked our board members if they consented to allowing Wurtz to record. We replied that we did not. We repeatedly asked Wurtz to turn off his camera, and let him know that he was welcome to stay and listen, but not to record our meeting. He repeatedly insisted that he was only there to listen.
After refusing repeated requests to cease videotaping our meeting, we asked him to leave our meeting, and he refused to do so. We then called the police to seek a resolution to the impasse, while McKenna waited outside our meeting room. The police waited outside the building after their arrival to confer with their legal counsel, and because they knew there was no danger of escalation inside. After an hour had passed, and before any police intervention, we decided it was too late to resume the meeting, announced that we would reschedule for a later date, and adjourned. Wurtz remained among us in the meeting room the entire time, and to our knowledge never spoke with the police.
Statement
We most certainly did not ask Mr. Wurtz to leave because of his political affiliation. We are not afraid to have Democrats among us - we want to convert them. We simply asked him to turn off his video camera, and asked him to leave only after he repeatedly refused that request.
We did not ask Wurtz to turn of his video camera because we expected McKenna, our members, or anyone else in attendance to express views or information that would be compromising or publicly embarrassing. In fact, we welcome the presence of media, or indeed anyone, to report on our events or about the comments of our invited speakers. Mr. Wurtz, however, was present as an agent of an opposing political party, as he plainly admitted, and not as a reporter. If he had agreed to cease recording video, we would have welcomed him to stay and proceeded with our meeting. We even offered him paper and pen to record any information he wished to report to his employer. A reporter from Publicola was present, and neither we nor McKenna had any objection to his presence.
We would only consent to videotaping of our events by television reporters, by the staff of our speakers, or by members of our club with consent of all members in attendance.
The recording of video is not necessary to observe and report on events (note that history books are full of detailed information that predates the invention of the camcorder). It is uncommon even for most reporters to videotape events they cover, unless they are television reporters.
A probable reason for videotaping by a political opponent is to cut short clips and present them out of context (sometimes in slow-motion black & white with the Exorcist theme as background music). Surely no one with any familiarity of political campaigns is unaware of this practice.
During the course of our meetings, members and guests ask questions of our speakers, and the course of the discussion is guided by the discourse between and among us. The interaction between our assembly and the speaker is frequently more of a group conversation than a one-sided recitation of a speech that was written and planned by the speaker. We believe the videotaping of our assembly meeting - especially by a paid agent of an opposing political party - can have a chilling effect on that discourse.
For these reasons, we decided to exercise what we believed to be lawful discretion in the interest of our club, our membership, and Rob McKenna, whom we were proud to have speak to us.
Charges have been made that our rental contract with North Bellevue Community Center forces us to consent to being recorded. No such restriction exists in the contract. The section that has been referenced reads as follows: “The applicant agrees that, during the use of the Parks & Community Services facility, [we] will not exclude anyone participation in, deny anyone the benefit of, or otherwise subject anyone to unlawful discrimination or harassment.” While technically that sentence actually reads that we will not deny anyone the benefit of unlawful discrimination or harassment, the intended meaning is still clear. We did not attempt to exclude Mr. Wurtz from our meeting - he was asked to either turn off his video camera or leave.
Charges have also been made that Rob McKenna retreated to the “cupcake table.” There happened to be a table outside the meeting room with various objects on it, including cupcakes. When Mr. McKenna stepped out of our meeting room, he was, admittedly, then in the same room as the cupcakes. The idea that our attorney general was retreating to seek the refuge of baked goods is, while an amusing image, patently absurd.
We would welcome Mr. Wurtz at future events - without his camera.
For inquiries, please contact Kyle Faucett, Communications Director: kylefaucett@gmail.com.
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