This is an archive of the former website of the Maoist Internationalist Movement, which was run by the now defunct Maoist Internationalist Party - Amerika. The MIM now consists of many independent cells, many of which have their own indendendent organs both online and off. MIM(Prisons) serves these documents as a service to and reference for the anti-imperialist movement worldwide.
This is an archive of the former website of the Maoist Internationalist Movement, which was run by the now defunct Maoist Internationalist Party - Amerika. The MIM now consists of many independent cells, many of which have their own indendendent organs both online and off. MIM(Prisons) serves these documents as a service to and reference for the anti-imperialist movement worldwide.
Maoist Internationalist Movement

City government investigates alleged Ward Churchill supporter

By an HC, April 25, 2005

The City of Longmont in Colorado has been investigating one of its employees who allegedly defended Ward Churchill during an interview with KHOW radio talk show hosts Dan Caplis and Craig Silverman. Caplis and Silverman are the Denver radio duo who have distorted Churchill's essay "Some People Push Back" and other speeches, engaged in persynal attacks against Ward Churchill, and been instrumental in whipping up public opinion in favor of violating Churchill's civil rights. The Longmont employee's interview with the two radio hosts happened in early March. At least one City representative initially said that the City was investigating what the employee had said on the radio. "We did indicate there was an investigation started regarding the KHOW radio interview you participated in as well as any potential impact that interview had on the City of Longmont."(1) Later, the City said it was just investigating whether the employee's particular use of a City cell phone at work violated a rule--even though the City explicitly permits the use of both telephones and cellular phones for persynal use on the employee's own time.(1)

Many workers, who use e-mail or the phone at work, use e-mail or the phone for persynal use even against company rules. The Longmont employee is right to say: "If I was on that radio show talking about nursery rhymes, I can assure you that there would be no investigation right now."(2) The City is taking advantage of a rarely enforced rule in workplaces to threaten Spagnuolo's job. Spagnuolo has already been suspended with pay on April 1. MIM itself doesn't put much stock in tailing the reactionary media to get on their shows, but the Caplis and Silverman show happens between 3 PM and 7 PM on weekdays. That's when many people work or are driving home. Spagnuolo stuck out his neck to talk on the Caplis and Silverman show, and now his employer is trying to take him down for it. As MIM has pointed out before, "free speech" in oppressive society is a myth in every sense.

The idea that the ongoing witch-hunt against Ward Churchill is against all dissent or every single critic of Bu$h is also a myth; although, the oppressors may choose to expand the kinds of dissent they single out for attack and commit other civil rights violations. The witch-hunt targets Ward Churchill for his particular ideas in an essay. Now, Longmont threatens Spagnuolo for making similar statements to "Some People Push Back." Spagnuolo is reportedly a pacifist--and MIM prefers consistent pacifists to pseudo-pacifist hypocrites who don't militantly oppose their own country's violence--but he tells it like it is when it comes to the pigs:

"In essence, Mr. Spagnuolo told Caplis and Silverman that in his opinion, when police officers act as oppressors in any given community, they get what they deserve from that community and can become targets of the oppressed. Mr. Spagnuolo was bated and badgered by Caplis and Silverman, but never advocated violence or death for any police officer. He simply stated, in essence when violence occurs against police officers, it is frequently a result of their own behavior."(1)

Spagnuolo, an activist who has worked on indigenous and other issues--and in so doing has drawn the wrath of reactionaries--is probably closer to the proletarian class position than the vast majority of Amerikans and even most Amerikans calling themselves "radical." The few Euro-Amerikans who do support Ward Churchill's right to speak the truth are proof that MIM is not being "too hard" on Amerikans when it tells them to take collective responsibility for imperialist militarism and genocide.

Last Friday, April 22nd, Spagnuolo's attorney tried to get the federal u.$. district court in Colorado to grant a temporary restraining order against the City of Longmont's investigation. However, Judge "Figa found that the ongoing probe of Spagnuolo didn't have a chilling effect on the 34-year-old exercising his rights to free speech."(3) Judge Phillip Figa's idea of what is a "chilling effect" is peculiar and suggests that practices like the City of Longmont's are okay as long as they don't they completely devastate the witch-hunt targets emotionally: " 'Finally, plaintiff is not intimidated by the city and therefore his free speech is not chilled,' said U.S. District Judge Phillip Figa. 'It is unclear whether the average person - or someone perhaps not as brave - would be so uninhibited.' " To a certain extent, "civil rights" are also a myth in the united $tates to begin with, but to say that civil rights violations only exist in their subjective impact is both silly and dangerous. Spagnuolo's attorney in the complaint shows that the City took actions that effectively discouraged Spagnuolo's speech. The fact that the City also searched Spagnuolo's computer may also put Spagnuolo in a precarious position. Were it not for the City's actions, it seems Spagnuolo would have been able to continue speaking in the way that he was before the investigation.

The different defendants in the temporary restraining order hearing on Friday didn't even have their act together. According to attorney David Lane's submitted complaint, "[a]t the meeting on the 18th DEFENDANT WEST backtracked on her email indicating that his speech was being investigated and informed Mr. Spagnuolo that they were investigating whether he used his City cell phone to make the call to KHOW or was being paid by LONGMONT at the time of the interview."(1) But:

"[d]uring the hearing, Longmont supervisor Karen Roney said she was aware that Spagnuolo was allowed to use his city-issued phone for personal calls as long as he reimbursed the city for them, and that he had been off-duty when he placed the call. . . . Her concern, Roney said, was that Spagnuolo had negatively affected the city's relationship with the Police Department, although the chief of police had assured the city that he had not."(4)

The stupid municipal bureaucrats have over-extended themselves. The City suspended their employee for one thing, backpedaled, and came up with justifications after the fact, like Spagnuolo's allegedly attending a Ward Churchill rally during his own time. It's a pattern that Ward Churchill himself is familiar with. Now, a court has signified approval for the witch-hunt in the case of Spagnuolo, and effectively helped the City to prepare its defense against Spagnuolo's pending lawsuit against the City:

"Without ruling on the merits of the lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Phillip Figa denied Spagnuolo's request for a temporary restraining order to halt the investigation while the suit proceeds. . . . Spagnuolo's lawyer David Lane contended the investigation into whether Spagnuolo misused city resources was launched in bad faith. Testimony indicated city community services director Karen Roney knew Spagnuolo was off the clock when he did the radio interview; that city policy allowed Spagnuolo to make personal calls on a city cell phone; and that Spagnuolo was allowed to spend his lunch hour how he chose, including attending Churchill's 5-minute speech in Boulder, Lane argued."(5)

Notes:

1. http://www.khow.com/img/spagnuolo-complaint.pdf

2. Paul Johnson, "Longmont city employee investigated following comments he made on a radio talk show defending Ward Churchill," April 13, 2005, http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA& IKOBJECTID=3a11990e-0abe-421a-0022-91ee40ad68b9& TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf

3. Charlie Brennan, "Judge denies Churchill backer : Longmont's probe of comments by staffer may go on," April 23, 2005, http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/ 0,1299,DRMN_15_3722967,00.html

4. Amy Herdy, "Judge allows Longmont probe," April 23, 2005, http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2831733,00.html

5. Catherine Tsai, "Judge: Longmont can continue investigation into city worker who commented on Churchill, police," Associated Press State & Local Wire, April 22, 2005.

6. George Merritt and Amy Herd, "E-mail: Longmont probes words, not deed," April 22, 2005, http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2829732,00.html

7. "Cell phones allow employees to work around the system," June 2002, http://www.maritzresearch.com/release.asp?rc=229&p=2&T=P

"Report: Personal e-mail use threatens business productivity," February 15, 2005, http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2005/02/14/daily22.html

8. brubaker, "The Next Armstrong Williams: Caplis accepted 'payola' to attack Ward Churchill," February 6, 2005, http://colorado.indymedia.org/feature/display/10164/index.php

9. Howard Pankratz, "Cases dropped against Columbus parade protesters Prosecutors do an about-face after a third judge ends loitering charges against the defendants," Denver Post, January 25, 2005, B-03.

10. "Trial update-Day 2," January 19, 2005, http://www.coloradoaim.org/blog/2005/01/trial-update-day-2.html

"Glenn Spagnuolo testified about his Italian heritage (his parents are from Italy) and how he learned about the history of indigenous peoples in this continent. He talked about a sense of shame when he found out that some Italians in Denver were celebrating Columbus and how he worked to approach the pro-Columbus Italians and was rebuffed."

11. "City of Longmont suspends Columbus Day activist," April 2, 2005, http://www.am760.net/info/spagnuolo.pdf

" 'The Columbus Day case and Chivington Drive campaigns have sort of painted a target on my back,' said Spagnuolo. 'If you talk about history from the viewpoint of the oppressed instead of the oppressors, certain people get upset. This investigation is just the latest skirmish. First it was Glenn Morris, then Ward Churchill; now it's my turn.' "

12. "Longmont Citizens for Justice and Democracy Call to Action," April 9, 2005, http://www.mail-archive.com/frostysamerindian@yahoogroups.com/ msg00410.html

13. Charles J. Muhl, "The law at work," http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2000/04/tlaw.htm