reply to post by DJMessiah
WASILLA -- Back in 1996, when she first became mayor, Sarah Palin asked the city librarian if she would be all right with censoring library books
should she be asked to do so.
According to news coverage at the time, the librarian said she would definitely not be all right with it. A few months later, the librarian, Mary
Ellen Emmons, got a letter from Palin telling her she was going to be fired. The censorship issue was not mentioned as a reason for the firing. The
letter just said the new mayor felt Emmons didn’t fully support her and had to
go.
news.bostonherald.com...
Shortly after becoming mayor, former city officials and Wasilla residents said, Ms. Palin approached the town librarian about the possibility of
banning some books, though she never followed through and it was unclear which books or passages were in question.
Anne Kilkenny, a Democrat who said she attended every City Council meeting in Ms. Palin’s first year in office, said Ms. Palin brought up the idea
of banning some books at one meeting. “They were somehow morally or socially objectionable to her,” Ms. Kilkenny said.
The librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, pledged to “resist all efforts at censorship,” Ms. Kilkenny recalled. Ms. Palin fired Ms. Emmons shortly after
taking office but changed course after residents made a strong show of support. Ms. Emmons, who left her job and Wasilla a couple of years later,
declined to comment for this article.
www.nytimes.com...
Just thought I'd cite a couple of sources for those who are unfamiliar with this story, as I was.
The subject of the story is at least an affront to First Amendment rights.
It's true that a city library is under the jurisdiction of local government, and that government has some authority over the catalog of a public
library, but the library exists at the will of the people.
The story suggests that Palin was in favor of dictating what was in the best interests of the townspeople, rather than serving the interests of the
townspeople. Palin changed her decision after firing the librarian, but that only underscores that if the public didn't protest, Palin would have let
her original decision stand.
Most importantly, Palin's reversal also underscores that her firing the librarian was clearly a result of the librarian's refusal to support
Palin's proposal to ban and/or censor books.
[edit on 12-10-2008 by Areal51]
