Free Speech Restrictions Defeated

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)The D.C. City Council yesterday voted down a bill that would have shut down loud protest in the District. In a 7 to 5 vote, with 100 union members of UNITE HERE watching -- backed up by the some members of the Carpenters union -- the Council tabled a bill that would have affected every union picket line, rally or civil protest that used a bull horn or other forms of amplified speech. The bill -- introduced by Tommy Wells (Ward 6) and pushed by Mary Cheh (Ward 3) - was initially directed at a particular group that's been loudly demonstrating at 8th and H St NE for years, but because of the broader implications, opponents called it "the most dangerous piece of city legislation directly affecting labor in more than a dozen years," according to Jos Williams, president of the Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" he added. The City Council action leaves in place the current law, which places no restrictions of non-commercial public speech between 7A and 8P. Unless Wells and Cheh can get seven members of the City Council to take the bill off the table the noise bill is virtually dead.