Tom Kovach
Sheboygan shenanigans
An open letter to a mayor that needs an education
By Tom Kovach
Mayor Perez:
This letter is in response to the recent news item in WorldNetDaily. You know, the one about how you tried to tell a resident of your city that she was "not authorized" to have a link from her Web site to the site of your city's police department.
Are you out of your mind?!
The last time I checked, this was still America. According to the news item, the woman owns a business in Sheboygan. As a business owner, a link from her Web site to the site of the city's police department would be a public service. Nobody told her that she had to provide such a link. She did it on her own initiative. It's the computer equivalent of providing a courtesy phone for customers' use. She provided a courtesy to her site visitors. As a free citizen of the United States, she can provide a link from her Web site to any other Web site that she pleases. She does not need "authorization," any more than I need prior authorization to pick up a telephone and call your office to give you the ear-chewing that you so obviously deserve.
The mere fact that you — with a law degree, no less — even think that a free citizen should need to get "authorization" to have a link to a Web site indicates to me (another free citizen of these United States) that you are quite disqualified to hold any elected office. The last time I checked, elected officials generally take some sort of an oath to support the Constitution of the United States. I do not know the exact wording of the oath of office for the mayor of Sheboygan. But, I do know that there is an organization that files lawsuits against elected officials that violate their oaths. Perhaps the owner of the Web site that has fallen under your ire, Jeni Reisinger, should contact that watchdog organization for insights on how to sue you out of office. Clearly, your law school did not include information about the First Amendment. (I'm trying very hard to give you the benefit of the doubt. Without it, that would mean that you were knowingly and intentionally using the power of your office to harm another under color of authority. I haven't researched the laws of Wisconsin. But, the laws of Tennessee define that as "official misconduct," which is a felony. I hope that this paragraph inspires Ms. Reisinger to research the laws of Wisconsin, with an eye toward prison for you!)
As a result of reading the news story, I have posted a link from my own personal Web site to the Web site for the Sheboygan Police Department. And, as you can see, this column now also contains such a link. I did not ask anyone's permission, nor will I. I will not remove said link from my personal Web site until I'm ready, which will be at a time of my personal choosing. If you wish, then you are certainly free to order your city attorney waste the tax dollars of the people that elected you by writing me a letter telling me to "cease and desist" from having such a link on my Web site. But, such a letter would be totally unenforceable. (It would become a case of trying to "push puffballs.") In short, it is my Web site. I pay for the Net space, I built it, I write all the content, I write all the HTML code to make it function, and I have chosen to have a link to the Sheboygan Police Department. And, I hereby encourage everyone that reads this column to click onto that link, and to put such a link from their own Web sites.
Sheboygan, Wisconsin, is still a city within the United States of America. Had it not been for your bombastic, bullying, bull — tactic, I would never have heard of Mayor Juan Perez, nor of the effort to have you recalled. But, because of your "man who would be king" attitude, I will certainly encourage each of the readers of this column to send one dollar each to the Sheboygan Spirit site. That way, Ms. Reisinger will have a lot of money to spend on her recall effort against you.
Long after people forget the name of Mayor Juan Perez — a politician that, hopefully, will soon be hoist from his own political petard — they will still remember the First Amendment. If you had done likewise, then you wouldn't have to think about all the millions of people across American that will now want to help boot you from office.
Once you are no longer saddled with the duties of mayor, I hope that you will take some time to read the Constitution — especially the First Amendment. You can find a link to it from this Web site.
© Tom Kovach
Mayor Perez:
This letter is in response to the recent news item in WorldNetDaily. You know, the one about how you tried to tell a resident of your city that she was "not authorized" to have a link from her Web site to the site of your city's police department.
Are you out of your mind?!
The last time I checked, this was still America. According to the news item, the woman owns a business in Sheboygan. As a business owner, a link from her Web site to the site of the city's police department would be a public service. Nobody told her that she had to provide such a link. She did it on her own initiative. It's the computer equivalent of providing a courtesy phone for customers' use. She provided a courtesy to her site visitors. As a free citizen of the United States, she can provide a link from her Web site to any other Web site that she pleases. She does not need "authorization," any more than I need prior authorization to pick up a telephone and call your office to give you the ear-chewing that you so obviously deserve.
The mere fact that you — with a law degree, no less — even think that a free citizen should need to get "authorization" to have a link to a Web site indicates to me (another free citizen of these United States) that you are quite disqualified to hold any elected office. The last time I checked, elected officials generally take some sort of an oath to support the Constitution of the United States. I do not know the exact wording of the oath of office for the mayor of Sheboygan. But, I do know that there is an organization that files lawsuits against elected officials that violate their oaths. Perhaps the owner of the Web site that has fallen under your ire, Jeni Reisinger, should contact that watchdog organization for insights on how to sue you out of office. Clearly, your law school did not include information about the First Amendment. (I'm trying very hard to give you the benefit of the doubt. Without it, that would mean that you were knowingly and intentionally using the power of your office to harm another under color of authority. I haven't researched the laws of Wisconsin. But, the laws of Tennessee define that as "official misconduct," which is a felony. I hope that this paragraph inspires Ms. Reisinger to research the laws of Wisconsin, with an eye toward prison for you!)
As a result of reading the news story, I have posted a link from my own personal Web site to the Web site for the Sheboygan Police Department. And, as you can see, this column now also contains such a link. I did not ask anyone's permission, nor will I. I will not remove said link from my personal Web site until I'm ready, which will be at a time of my personal choosing. If you wish, then you are certainly free to order your city attorney waste the tax dollars of the people that elected you by writing me a letter telling me to "cease and desist" from having such a link on my Web site. But, such a letter would be totally unenforceable. (It would become a case of trying to "push puffballs.") In short, it is my Web site. I pay for the Net space, I built it, I write all the content, I write all the HTML code to make it function, and I have chosen to have a link to the Sheboygan Police Department. And, I hereby encourage everyone that reads this column to click onto that link, and to put such a link from their own Web sites.
Sheboygan, Wisconsin, is still a city within the United States of America. Had it not been for your bombastic, bullying, bull — tactic, I would never have heard of Mayor Juan Perez, nor of the effort to have you recalled. But, because of your "man who would be king" attitude, I will certainly encourage each of the readers of this column to send one dollar each to the Sheboygan Spirit site. That way, Ms. Reisinger will have a lot of money to spend on her recall effort against you.
Long after people forget the name of Mayor Juan Perez — a politician that, hopefully, will soon be hoist from his own political petard — they will still remember the First Amendment. If you had done likewise, then you wouldn't have to think about all the millions of people across American that will now want to help boot you from office.
Once you are no longer saddled with the duties of mayor, I hope that you will take some time to read the Constitution — especially the First Amendment. You can find a link to it from this Web site.
© Tom Kovach
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