Annapolis Capital Punishment

Capital Executive Editor and now Publisher Tom Marquardt told CP that in the wake of Eric Hartley's recent column that was strongly critical of her crime-fighting effectiveness, Mayor Moyer told the newspaper that she would not communicate with or respond to any inquiries from The Capital unless they were in writing. On February 18, CP asked her press secretary Ray Weaver to confirm and comment on this. Here is a copy of that letter sent via email:

Mr. Weaver:

I have been informed by a reliable source that that the mayor has refused to take any telephone calls or make any comments to The Capital unless all communications are in writing since the recent column regarding crime by Capital columnist Eric Hartley. Is this true? How long has or will this be in effect? Is this or was this for all Capital staff or just Mr. Hartley? Does the mayor contend there were any factual errors or misrepresentations in Mr. Hartley's column? I would certainly appreciate confirmation or denial and a reply to my questions at your earliest convenience.

Thank you. Paul Foer

Mr. Weaver has not seen fit to respond to this media inquiry. Maybe he will only answer letters sent on actual paper in actual envelopes. Who knows?

IT GOES ON....About thirty minutes after posting this, CP received this from Mr. Weaver:

In a recent email to me, Paul Foer, the CEO of this media outlet wrote, and I quote,

"I'm done and am not going to read any more of your letters or respond to them."

He said he wasn't going to read my letters...so why write?

I was OK with that then and I still am.

Neither the Mayor or myself has discussed any "policy" regarding the Capital with Mr. Marquardt, so I am not sure how he was able to discuss it with Capital Punishment.
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Hey Ray--I'm now the CEO???? Cooool!!! You failed to mention that the letters you were sending to me were offensive and insulting and that you threatened to sue me although for what I have no idea. You should understand this is not personal, but as with your boss, you have trouble separating what is personal from what is business or political. This is odd behavior for a public servant whose salary we pay, and a public information officer should never do these kinds of things, but it is another reason why we need a city manager form of government.
However, as anyone can see from my letter of February 18, I gave you the chance to respond to certain issues about city government that are of concern to readers. You refused to do so. Instead, and this is what's really interesting, when I posted the above story, you responded in about 3o minutes. Wow! I must really be grating on you-huh?
In a related matter, readers should know that I contacted Mr. Weaver on three separate occasions trying to invite the Mayor to speak at a public event. Finally, just before the event, he let off steam at me because I needed a reply. At that point, weeks later and after repeated contact, he berated me for not writing an official invitation letter, yet he never previously mentioned he needed such a letter.

So, which one is it? We communicate? We don't communicate? We only communicate in writing? We take our time responding? We respond immediately? We told The Capital that all inquiries had to be submitted in writing and there would be no immediate comments or replies? Which one is it?

One has to wonder, why does the mayor's press secretary refuse to answer a legitimate question from a reporter, yet he immediately responds when a story is posted about that? Finally, he seems to deny, but it is not clear, that the mayor has insisted that any inquiry from The Capital has to be in writing, which is the point of this whole thing. Such requests mean that the paper has to mail a letter and wait for a response, but newspapers work fast, and reporters work the telephone, not the postal service. Mr. Weaver really did not respond to my letter of inquiry, except to suggest that, obliquely of course, that both Mr. Marquardt and I are liars. I'll let readers draw their own conclusions.