After being alerted to complaints regarding Rep. Scott Taylor’s social media behavior, Leslie Mehta, a legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia sent a letter to the congressman asking that he stop violating his constituent’s First Amendment rights.
According to the ACLU, several of Congressman Scott Taylor’s constituents complained that, “they were blocked or had their comments removed from Taylor’s government-sponsored social media, including his Twitter and Facebook pages, even though their comments didn’t contain any profane, threatening, or discriminatory language. We sent Taylor a letter explaining how his censorship of opposing viewpoints in a limited public forum violates his constituents’ rights to free speech.”
The ACLU also noted on their website that “based on the number of followers and activities, Taylor seems to be using his unofficial Facebook and Twitter pages as the main platform to communicate with his constituent, discussing voting decisions, policy, and descriptions/photos of public appearances in his official capacity as a Congressman. It’s also unclear whether the congressman uses governmental resources to maintain his unofficial pages, which would be in violation of the House Ethics Rule.”
The Full Letter can be read here.
About the Author
Before publishing this stuff try an internet search with wording OPPOSITE to what you are trying to say just to see what pops up. In this case I searched “Democrats block constituents on facebook”. –
Ta, da!
http://www.myajc.com/news/local/who-blocked-twitter-mayor-kasim-reed-now/ImAQWgMH5rpojdmJnHclyO/
That’s just one, there are plenty more
You really want to get a politician’s attention in the modern day?
Write a letter.
On a piece of paper.
Put a stamp on it.
Mail it to his office.
Doesn’t matter where you are on the political spectrum. The fact that you put that much effort into getting your opinion to him will make an impact.
Not so much with the senators as they represent the entire state. All you get back from them is a form letter stating their position. Which is hilarious because isn’t that why you wrote the letter in the first place?
However, the local reps always respond with a signed thank you.note. ( Might be an intern’s signature for all I know but still, not a form letter )
We all need to reiterate to the politicians that they work for us and there’s no better way than the direct personal contact of a written letter.
Try it, you’ll like it.
Just because others do does not give cover to Scott Taylor . He is OUR representative .
I might also mention that when I do write to him on a specific subject the response will be a non-answer jabberwalky staff response .
Just for a drill , ask Scott to justify supporting a ” TRUMPCARE ” plan that takes healthcare away from millions of the most needy Americans .
In your haste to counter my statement you completely missed my points. Nothing new on the ‘net though is it?
To clarify.
One – I didn’t attempt to justifying Mr. Taylor’s actions, I was pointing out that the author needs to be fair and balanced with these articles.
Two – I encouraged all citizens to get involved, not just those of a particular political tilt. American citizens have the power and the people we send to DC and Richmond need to be reminded that they are public servants. Surely we can agree on that.
As for the responses, I disagree. The letters I’ve received from Representatives Mr. Rigell and Mr. Scott have always directly addressed my concerns and were not simply campaign slogans.
The responses from our senators are “jabberwalky” but that’s to be expected. The senate is fueled by “jabberwalky”.
Now as to adding in the healthcare debate at the end, nice try but that’s not part of this discussion.
Note: In the Mirror’s defense, we feel we were pretty fair here, merely reporting the actions taken by the VA ACLU in regards to citizen complaints.
The ACLU?
heh
From their Facebook page – “The ACLU of Virginia maintains this Facebook profile to inform and educate people about civil liberties issues in Virginia and across the country. In order to maintain our profile in a way that expresses our priorities and goals, The ACLU of Virginia reserves the right to remove and/or edit any comments or posts made on the ACLU of Virginia’s Facebook wall or profile”.
Pot, meet kettle.
Back to the discussion at hand.
The article exhibits a bias and is not fair and balanced.
If the title had been something along the lines of – “Government servants do not want to hear citizens’ voices” and you had used Rep. Scott and Mayor Reed as examples, you would be within bounds but as it stands, it seems you have an agenda.
None the less, I do want to thank you for the opportunity to urge ALL American citizens to get engaged with their various political representatives. Too much complacency going on in this country.