Good morning, Mr. Messano,
I received your voicemail inquiry related to your removal from the city commission meeting on Tuesday, April 1st. At this meeting, you willfully interrupted the proceedings and disrupted the orderly conduct of the meeting through tumultuous rant filled with threatening overtones unrelated to any pertinent city business. You chose to ignore President Decker’s repeated cautionary warnings and points of order related to your unyielding behavior. Acting on the directive of Mayor Decker, Dickinson Police Officers were forced to escort you out of the building to restore and maintain the peace and order of the meeting. The three officers involved in your removal from City Hall were Senior Officer Tiffany Kimmerle #427, Officer Russell Priewe #479, and Officer Brian Steger #475. The Dickinson Police Department will not provide any further commentary related to this matter.
Chief Cianni
Chief Joe Cianni
2475 State Ave North
Dickinson, ND 58601
701.456.7765
Dear Chief Cianni,
I am disappointed to read your letter, which does not contain a few errors.
First, you say I “willfully interrupted” the meeting, ignoring that I was interrupted by two members of the audience and City Administrator Dassinger when it was my turn to speak.
You swore an oath to uphold the First Amendment. Notwithstanding all the clever attempts to paint speech as illegal if it’s from someone not from Dickinson or is considered “hateful,” the First Amendment is a right afforded to all citizens. You have been sitting in these meetings, and you and I, and every honest observer, understand these recent speech rules instituted at the last meetings were explicitly designed to silence me. The Mayor has already said on the record that he considers my remarks “hateful” and doesn’t want me speaking in Dickinson. Since he is your employer, I’m not surprised you echo his sentiments,
You are defending your officers for violating the First Amendment rights of an American citizen.
You don’t consider audience members interrupting “disruptive,” but when I stand on my First Amendment rights, you consider this out of order.
Please explain how noting that the First Amendment being followed by the Second is “threatening.”
Perhaps you can arrest all of America’s Founders who designed that to protect American citizens from having their speech silenced.
As for “pertinent city business,” that’s nonsense, as Facebook and the Dickinson Press control the biggest discussion forums in the city, and no one from Dickinson owns both. Your same arguments are used in cities across America to silence citizens who expose wrongdoing in towns. Why aren’t you arresting Adam Hendry, the CEO of Tzadik Properties, who is conducting human trafficking in your town? Why are you wasting time and energy on me when I expose your town’s problems?
Mayor Decker’s orders to your officers were glaringly unconstitutional. Your officers should have responded that they could not follow unconstitutional orders, that American citizens have the right to speak, and that the Mayor should have ordered those who interrupted me in the audience removed.
This was gross partisanship and highly unjust.
It’s disappointing that you, as a police chief, support the mayor trampling on my First Amendment rights, joining with lawless members of the audience.
The First Amendment wasn’t created so that citizens, elected officials, or city employees can use the police to silence speech they don’t like.
I hope you will support free speech at the upcoming meeting. If the Mayor orders you or your officers to remove me when it’s my turn to speak, you will learn from your last mistake and refuse to violate the First Amendment rights of American citizens this time.
What your officers did at the last meeting was a slap in the face to the First Amendment rights of every American citizen.
That must not continue.
If you don’t like the Constitution, you may not be suited to be Dickinson’s police chief.
Thank you,
Sincerely,
Ryan Messano
