99-04-23:  ANNUAL MUZZLE AWARDS FOCUS ON FIRST AMENDMENT





By Dan Heuchert




The reaction of New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to news of his
having received the first Lifetime Muzzle Award ever presented by the
Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression was swift
and withering.

"He described us as an out-of-control advocacy group," said Joshua
Wheeler, the center's assistant director and coordinator of the annual
Muzzle awards,  given to those who the center's Board of Trustees
determine to have committed the most egregious violations of the
principles of free speech.

Giuliani's reaction was not atypical. But some others approach it with
a sense of humor, "and some others have just ignored us completely," he
said.

"It raises the consciousness of the importance of the First Amendment
in a free society," he said. "The real value of the Muzzles is that so
many people assume these things could not take place in this country,
when in fact they happen all the time."

This year, Wheeler has carried on an ongoing exchange of letters with
the Arenac, Mich. Prosecutor's Office over its award, given for
prosecuting a man under a "forgotten, 101-year-old state law" that
prohibits swearing in front of women and children." Wheeler described
the letters as cordial, "but in sharp disagreement."

Many, if not most, of the awards are made in cases in which the speech
being stifled is viewed by most of society as undesirable. For
instance, one of this year's awards went to an attorney and a judge in
Illinois who, as part of a three-person panel, voted not to admit an
acknowledged white supremacist into that state's bar, despite the
applicant having fulfilled all other requirements and pledged support
for the state and federal constitutions.

"This award is not saying that,'you're a bad person,'" Wheeler said,
"just that they made a mistake in this instance. ... The whole purpose
of the First Amendment is to protect speech that is not popular. That's
sort of the nature of the game."

The center, directed by former U.Va. president and noted First
Amendment expert Robert M. O'Neil, collects hundreds of Muzzle
candidates year-round. People mail in nominations, or submit them
through forms on the center's web site (www.tjcenter.org).

As the April 13 anniversary of Jefferson's birthday approaches, Wheeler
pares the list to a more manageable 50 or so.

The short list is then presented to the 10-member Board of Trustees,
who further cut the list to about 20 finalists. Wheeler then does more
in-depth research to confirm the facts of the cases before writing to
prospective recipients and asking for their responses.

About half respond, Wheeler said.

This year's winners include:

-- Giuliani, for a laundry list of 10 instances of censorship,
including prohibiting city buses from displaying ads that were critical
of his publicity-seeking nature; barring a church group from
demonstrating and conducting an AIDS education program in a city park;
refusing a permit for a parade or march designed to protest police
brutality; and suspending and later firing a police officer for
appearing in blackface while off duty and in civilian dress and
participating in a racist skit.

-- Independent counsel Kenneth Starr, for subpoenaing 2 1/2 years worth
of records of Monica Lewinsky's purchases from a bookstore.

-- U.S. Rep. Robert L. Barr, for an amendment to the Washington, D.C.
budget that prohibited the tabulation and reporting of votes cast in a
medical marijuana ballot initiative.

-- WJLA television station in Washington, for refusing to run a
conservative group's anti-Clinton ad while agreeing to broadcast a
liberal group's pro-Clinton spot.

-- Judge Gregory K. McClintock and attorney Stuart R. Lefstein, the
afore-mentioned Illinois state bar committee members.

-- The Texas Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee for attempting to
ban sales of do-it-yourself legal manuals on divorce, wills, copyrights
and the like because they viewed them as being in violation of
regulations prohibiting the practice of law without a license.

-- The Louisiana Supreme Court, which "severely limit[ed]" the ability
of student law clinics to provide free legal assistance.

-- The Arenac County Prosecutor's Office (see above).

-- Timothy Dawson, principal of Killian High School in Miami, for
suspending and expelling nine students who produced an underground
publication which portrayed him in an unflattering light. He also had
the students arrested.

-- The Pinellas County School District in Tampa, Fla. for prohibiting
the use of the Starr Report and President Clinton's grand jury
testimony in a high school government class, despite receiving written
permission from the parents of all of the students in the class.

-- The West Virginia University Athletic Department for threatening to
arrest a fan who displayed a banner "humorously critical" of the
Mountaineers' longtime football coach, Don Nehlen.