Fla. Mayor Won't Talk to Reporters Unless They Register as Lobbyists

Image via WikipediaLauderhill (Fla.) Mayor Richard Kaplan, citing an ethics code enacted by Broward County Commissioner last week, will not speak to reporters unless they register as lobbyists, according to the Website for  the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (www.rcfp.org).

The ethics code takes effect January 2, 2012, but don't expect Sun-Sentinel reporters to sign up as lobbyists anytime soon. The paper's assistant general counsel believes the measure is unconstitutional and Broward County's chief appellate counsel has already stated that journalists are not lobbyists and that his office sees no need to clarify the ethics code to make that point.

Mayor Kaplan reasoned that reporters' research is the source for editors who write editorials that seek indirectly to influence government decision-making, which he views as lobbying. Just the kind of clear-thinking that voters want in a chief executive. Kaplan's staff said the mayor was on vacation (from reality?) and unavailable to respond to the adverse reaction to his opinion.

It all may be a tempest in a teapot, though this being Florida, maybe an iced teapot.