New Haven Independent

Posted by: Maria | November 20, 2007 4:58 PM

Nice smokescreen. The mayor's spokeswoman announces no one can talk to city department heads without going through her -- she announces this at the tail end of a meeting about parking passes. Did anyone catch this?

The board of education already has this practice, in which the "communications" office attempts to control all contact between media and people in schools. In effect, the policy muzzles school leaders and school teachers.
On another note, one may surmise from the new policy that city administration does not trust its own department heads to speak freely. Very interesting.

Posted by: walter bradley jr | November 20, 2007 5:15 PM

As a member of the true Alternative media (Citizens Television) , and one of the few media organizations that focuses on this city, I'm dismayed, but not shocked by Mcgrath's words. Ms. Bonnie Winchester, and before her Gary Jenkins gave us our cute little and Press Passes, and in fact, i never got a ticket from the New Haven Police Department, however Mcgrath's people have in fact gotten me for several tickets, placed just over the pass.
It's hard enough to find a spot during aldermanic hearings, let alone leaving in the middle (although one of the good things about back room politics is that the meetings often run only a half hour) to feed the meter on the limited time meters. When the City of New Haven, The Schools of New Haven and the many Civic and Non-Profit organizations ask us to come downtown to cover an event we come -and parking is a pain. We feed the meter, but in most cases the meter is limited to one hour, or even in some spots 20 minutes which will mean either i've got to leave an event early, or face a parking ticket. I am amenable to a system where our unpaid time is fairly charged to us, but the timing of this announcement seems to be a punitive action.
I openly question if the timing of this little "penalty" has anything to do with the media (the independent, not those horse's behinds at 8 and the register) exposing Mr. Mcgrath's charitable work for the mentally challanged.
Perhaps the good folks would like to come on to the public's channel and expound on this. Our parking is always free. To everyone.

P.S. - I did not seek permission first from upstairs, because I am lucky enough to work for an organization that places the utmost respect for our first amendment rights.

Posted by: marge | November 20, 2007 6:11 PM

The city is going to achieve nothing with Mayorga's gatekeeper policy but ever more adamant committment by reporters to get the back story, and increased sense of intrigue, that there always IS a backstory the city isn't letting out. In other words, a secretive city hall is suspicious.

It also makes the mayor look like he is afraid of something.

Posted by: westvillecharlie | November 20, 2007 6:40 PM

"Vengence is mine!" sayeth mcgrath

Posted by: Chris | November 20, 2007 9:34 PM

What's happening to transparency at City Hall. Department heads being muzzled. These professionals deserve more respect from the mouthpiece. If anything, more communication and communication training are needed. The Rhodeen / Smutts candor on the police department was refreshing.

Posted by: robn | November 20, 2007 11:08 PM

The city muzzles its employees at their peril!

Posted by: Steven Kalb | November 20, 2007 11:28 PM

News that all communication with the media would first have to be approved by the new mayoral spokesman is neither new nor original. Over the last three decades various mayoral spokesmen and spokeswomen have tried (always in vain I should point out) to control that which comes out of city hall. The edict usually comes packaged in the need for "continuity of message" or some equally useless phrase. It also never works. As an example I commend to you "leakless" Washington DC..in which various presidents and their assorted henchmen over the years have gone out of their way to "plug the leaks." Yeah...that's worked out well hasn't it? You can't stop people from talking...city employees or not...what you can do is create the rapport betwen the media and the spokesman(woman) so we want to go to you first to get the best answer...not just any answer. John DeStefano is one of the smartest guys around and clearly one of the smartest politicians around....he would do well to scrap heap this idea before anyone actually thinks they're serious about it. It would be easier to prevent a hurricane.

Posted by: king james v | November 21, 2007 9:01 AM

why is the truth so frightening to the Destefano machine? Also, does Paul have a man crush on Mcgrath? Why give the man credit for anything?

Posted by: Gary Doyens | November 21, 2007 12:02 PM

Why is McGrath a consultant? What expertise does he have, that people on our payroll already, don't possess? I assume McGrath "retired" but not really, so he's another double dipper that escalates city spending. And he just so happens to be a champion vote puller for the DeStefanati.

As for Mayorga - since taking over, she has consistently worked to create a bigger job for herself. The police public information officer was eliminated so Jessica could take over that duty too. Now, this edict. What is it that makes the mayor and Mayorga so afraid of the public's right to know?

Posted by: -FairHavener- | November 21, 2007 1:23 PM

"...you should be aware that Mr. McGrath is not an employee of the City..." (Michelle M. Duprey, Esq., RE: Voting Torture)

"McGrath's apparently still a consultant to the department." (P. Bass, above article)

Hmmm.

Anyway, how can _I_ get a consulting job with the City?

Posted by: Common Sense | November 21, 2007 4:31 PM

It looks like city union presidents (police, fire, etc.) will now be the primary source of information, for the media, now that the bureaucracy of City Hall has further muzzled City Department heads.

Posted by: bill saunders | November 21, 2007 5:00 PM

Not an employee of the city -- nice try.

Didn't McWrath jump right from traffic and parking, to director of the Chapel West Special Services District, which is funded by a hidden tax levied against property owners in that (recently expanded) district.

Oh, I forgot..... CWSSD is a non-profit.

Posted by: Gary Doyens | November 21, 2007 6:07 PM

Perhaps Mayorga or the mayor could explain how gagging city workers is beneficial to the taxpayers? How are we better served? Just from reading these posts...lots of questions for this pair. No answers. Nothing but dead air. I wonder if Mayorga was one of the beneficiaries of the recent 16% pay range hike? Lots of big money when the mayor has said we're facing a $14 million deficit.

Posted by: Fedupwithliberals | November 22, 2007 8:41 AM

there's no city law that provides for press parking passes, McGrath noted. Legally, they "do not exist."

Hmmm. you mean like City ID cards for illegals? Cards that allow you to use the library and pay for parking? Why doesn't the press just obtain those IDs to solve this dilemma? If that is not good enough, maybe there is some benefactor, somewhere, who can help our friends in the fourth estate by donating money to create a new form of identification for the press.

Posted by: cedarhillresident | November 23, 2007 10:28 AM

Ok I read the fact that city department heads can not talk to reporters with out asking ect. Does it also go the same for all city employees?? So all that reporter are going to get from town hall are pre-fab stories of PR value??
Hmmm maybe I am not reading that right... Why not?? I want a fuller explanation on this. It makes no sense to me. What happens in town hall is open to the public on all levels right?? At least that is what I thought. Can we get a better explanation on this Paul? It seems to me that it is a bit UNETHICAL??

Posted by: mindoflen | November 25, 2007 1:33 PM

There's a song: "Everything Old Is New Again."
As a reporter and editor of more than 40 years' experience, I agree with Steve Kalb and others who say this type of censorship never works. The only people affected are the hacks who get their news from press releases. The reporters worthy of the title have sources who ignore these edicts because the source believes that people really do have a right to know what's going on in the government for which they are overtaxed. As far as parking passes are concerned, we never needed them. The reporters and the cops knew each other and the cops had enough respect for the good reporters not to ticket them. The cops knew that if the reporters were parked overtime at a meter, it was for a good cause, not because they were trying to beat feeding the meter.
For more, please see www.mindoflen.blogspot.com