Who will speak up?

To the editor:

An open letter to U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, U.S. Senator Jerry Moran, U.S. Representative Jake LaTurner, State Senator Rick Wilborn, State Representative Scott Hill, and Governor Laura Kelly:

I read with interest a recent opinion piece written by State Assemblyman Charles Lavine of New York — a state approximately 1,400 miles east of Kansas — about recent police intimidation of a Marion, Kansas, newspaper and the unconstitutional seizure of reporters’ work product.

Lavine wrote to “join in the nationwide outrage” concerning the unconstitutional raid on the Marion County Record in your state. He concludes his opinion piece by decrying attempts to silence the press: “We need to stand up and fight for independent journalism. Let us all speak truth to power!”

I find it astonishing that not one single Kansas elected official — not even Representatives LaTurner or Hill, who were present when the Marion chief of police illegally ejected the newspaper staff and editor from an early August meeting that was subject to the Kansas Open Meetings Act — have spoken up in support of freedom of the press under the U.S. Constitution.

Jill Johnson
Berkeley, California