"Nothin' ain't worth nothin' but it's free"

Thank you, Kris Kristofferson.

The controversy over access to Commissioner Victoria DeFreese's communications with her constituents is nothing less than a rumbling volcano of constitutional, statutory and political issues. DeFreese has promised to ask the state Attorney General for an opinion as to whether those communications fall under the purview of Tennessee's open records law and are thus subject to inspection. DeFreese maintains they are private communications, nobody's business save that of herself and the constituents.

"Experts" have weighed in on both sides of the question. Although it would seem that the weight of law is against DeFreese, that she received faxes, e-mails and phone calls in her official capacity as a commissioner, thus creating (unwittingly, apparently) public records, the constituents' expectation of privacy must surely be given consideration.

Some have taken the stand that this a First Amendment issue, that the right to free speech may be curbed if the AG comes down on the public record side. From this layman's perspective, that seems a stretch. The right to free speech does not guarantee a right to "private speech." The notion, in fact, is almost illogical: the power implicit in a free speech guarantee is that it can be exercised publicly without fear.

The more profound issue for DeFreese and all elected officeholders is precedent. Anyone paying attention understands that the demand made of Defreese by the Mayor's office could have been made of any commissioner at any time since the enactment of the state's open records law. It's more than coincidence that DeFreese, who's been especially critical of the Mayor, was singled out.

The Mayor's office blithely opened Pandora's box. Maybe there's nothing inside, but is it free? There's evidence of backing and filling already with Dwight Van de Vate's statement that the Mayor would not "press" the issue. This is one time "nothin" may come with a cost.