This is what should happen in regards to the Twittergate lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union against the mayor of Peoria and various city officials in regards to the deplorable Twittergate debacle.
Both parties should agree to release simultaneous press releases apologizing to each other, and then drop the lawsuit while the mayor pleads for leniency in regards to all marijuana charges stemming from the search.
Jon Daniel will agree to apologize for creating a Twitter account that used Jim Ardis’ face and images related to the office of Mayor of the City of Peoria, and for posting many obscene and vulgar Tweets that either states or implied drug use and illicit sexual acts by Ardis.
The Twitter account in question might be legal under the 1st Amendment, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t rude, vulgar and insulting.
Ardis, at the same time, will issue a press release apologizing for demanding that the City of Peoria Police Department raid Daniel’s house looking for evidence he was, in fact, the person who created the account. Ardis will acknowledge that he was advised by persons expert in the law that this Twitter account was in fact violating no law at the time. He will, in this press release, ask Peoria County State’s Attorney Jerry Brady to drop all charged files against Jacob L. Elliott in relations to a bag of marijuana found in the home that was raised.
When Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel faced a familiar situation before he became mayor, he might have felt just as insulted and outraged as Jim Ardis did. But Emanuel did the smart thing. He offered to donate cash to the posters favorite charity if the postings stopped. He turned a negative into a positive. Mayor Ardis turned a very minor negative into a huge negative that is embarrassing Peoria on the world stage.
Because when you run for office, you have to give up you right to be outraged when people say dumb and nasty things about you.
It’s called leadership. It’s not too late for Ardis to start showing it.
But it’s also time for law enforcement heads to show some support for the U.S. Constitution.
Peoria County State’s Attorney Jerry Brady and Peoria County Sheriff Mike McCoy showed up at a rally for to defend Jim Ardis right to raid the home of a may who posted insulting Tweets about him.
The ACLU is suing Ardis and other city officials. The ACLU says the raid defies the U.S. Constitution.
Now, I am not going to say that every time the ACLU says something is unconstitutional, it is.
But this Twitter raid is. Clearly.
I expect law enforcement officials to NOT put their personal friendships and alliances above showing support for the United States Constitution.