Even the Seattle Times Editorial Board Thinks Burien's Twitter Ban Is Bananas

The same Burien where a person repeatedly ran over progressive candidates’ campaign signs with his car. ANDREW MCNAIR

I still can’t tell if the Seattle Times editorial board, when it does publish good editorials, makes my job easier or more difficult.

At any rate, today they published a good one: The board agreed today that what is happening to Burien City Council member Lauren Berkowitz is probably unconstitutional. In October, the Burien City Council—which is about to be flipped to a progressive majority—banned Berkowitz from tweeting during council meetings.

Berkowitz is the leftiest on the council, and doesn’t hide her views. This is not the first time she’s drawn the ire of Burien’s mayor and conservative council wing.

“Mostly, the council’s arguments against Berkowitz’s tweets seem to reflect personal and political divisions on the council, as well as a generational gap when it comes to understanding the public nature of social media,” the Times ed board wrote.

By way of example, the ed board quoted Council Member Debi Wagner, who recently lost her reelection bid on a “Burien Proud, Burien First” platform to Latino labor leader Jimmy Matta.

“I have a Twitter. I watch the Twitter. I see myself being Twittered about to people in the audience during a council meeting,” Wagner said in September.

Speaking of the social media, Wagner also once posted a comment to Burien Proud Burien First’s Facebook page that suggested Council Member Lauren Berkowitz and I were friends who wanted to take over Burien. I don’t know Berkowitz in any personal capacity, but I cannot deny that I have launched an aggressive campaign annexing the superior tamales at Taqueria Casa Mixteca for months now. I’m sorry. There you have it.