My Tiny Protest

About two months ago, I attended an event at which the New York City Council presented Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly with the Thomas Manton Irish Man of the Year Award.

I stood near the front of the room and held up Leonard Levitt's book, "Power and Corruption in the Country's Greatest Police Force: NYPD Confidential." The Police Commissioner noticed, as did Council Speaker Christine Quinn and others in the room.

Eventually, someone, presumably an employee of the City Council, directed me to remove the book on the basis that I was being rude and disrespectful.

While I did lower the book, I nonetheless kept displaying it.

Compared to the protests taking place around the world in which people are risking their lives to stand up to dictators, my protest against the NYPD Commissioner was pretty tame. I didn't say anything. I didn't bring anyone with me or verbally disrupt the proceeding. All I did was hold up a book so others could see it, and in so doing, silently communicate my displeasure with the Council's guest of honor.

In a free country, citizens are supposed to have the right to criticize their government officials. This is a fundamental right which is enshrined in our First Amendment.

The New York City Council should respect freedom of speech and the right of citizens to criticize government officials.

Sparing a Political Boss

I'm not in the habit of agreeing with editorials in The New York Post. But The Post was right today to condemn the light sentence which was given to Raymond Harding, former chairman of the defunct Liberal Party, for fraud involving the state's pension fund.

Harding received no jail sentence or fine -- and was permitted to keep $800,000 which he pocketed in fees for serving as a sham intermediary between the pension fund and investment firms.

This was an inappropriate sentence for the political boss whose machinations were crucial to the election of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Harding tricked voters into voting for a political party which was neither liberal nor a real party, but instead was a patronage operation for his sons and friends.

It will be interesting to see if our senior elected officials and political prognosticators have anything to say about this sentence. I'm not holding my breath.