Plandome Heights pols object to photos

Bill San Antonio

A Village of Plandome Heights public meeting turned contentious after Mayor Kenneth Riscica scolded a Manhasset Times reporter who said the mayor repeatedly made vulgar gestures as he took photographs of board members.

Reporter Bill Whelan, assigned by the newspaper to compile the headshot photographs of various Manhasset village government, school district and civic officials for use in the publication’s “Guide to Manhasset,” published in the center of this week’s edition, recorded Riscica calling him disruptive and later photographed him with his middle finger raised.

“He was looking directly at me, smiling at me as I took the picture, and gave me the middle finger,” Whelan said. “I was standing outside the area where trustees were seated, taking pictures at a considerable distance, and he flipped me off.”

According to New York State’s Open Meetings Law, meetings of public bodies that are considered open to the public are also open to being photographed, broadcast, webcast or recorded by audio or video means.

Reporters for Blank Slate Media, which publishes the Manhasset Times, first requested photographs of the board of trustees more than a week before the meeting, but were informed by Plandome Heights clerk-treasurer Arlene Drucker that the trustees had opted not to participate in the guide and requested the media organization respect their rights as private citizens to not use their photographs.

Blank Slate Media Publisher Steven Blank and Drucker then exchanged a series of e-mails in which Drucker said the newspaper would be violating state law if it published photographs of trustees without their consent and Blank said the newspaper was permitted to publish photographs of public officials in both reference guides and news stories under the First Amendment and state law.

Robert J. Freeman, the executive director of the New York State Department’s Committee on Open Government, said in an interview that the village officials’ request to not use their photographs was “ridiculous” and that the newspaper is allowed to publish their photographs and record meetings under the state’s Open Meetings Law.

“When records are disclosed under the Freedom of Information Law, or when an individual records an open meeting, that person may do with the photographs or the video as he or she sees fit,” Freeman said. “There is no limitation on the use of the material.”

Whelan said he arrived at Village Hall on Monday 20 minutes earlier than the meeting’s regularly-scheduled start time, but found the trustees already in session. Whelan said the board did not provide any public notice that it had changed the meeting’s start time, as the village says it will do on the “Frequently Asked Questions” page of its Web site.

Whelan said he began photographing the meeting and was immediately scolded by Riscica for being disruptive.

“I need you to sit down,” Riscica told Whelan. “If you are going to be in the audience, I need you to sit down and not disrupt my meeting.”

Whelan continued photographing the trustees and said he noticed Riscica raise his middle finger in his direction, which he captured on his camera.

A short while later, during a conversation about storm water catch basins along Bay Driveway that were covered with leaves, Whelan noticed that Riscica again had his middle finger raised while speaking with Trustee Alvin Solomon.

“[Riscica] was looking at Solomon and talking to Solomon, but his finger was pointed at me,” Whelan said. “He was facing him in one direction and pointing at me in the other.”

Solomon noticed Riscica’s gesture and said, “You can give me the finger if you like, but you still have to clean the drains.”

Whelan photographed and recorded the exchange between Riscica and Solomon.

“I hope you got that picture for the newspaper,” Solomon told Whelan.

When Whelan later said he was photographing within his rights as a member of the press, Riscica scoffed, “Yeah, this is the Pentagon Papers.”

“You are bothering us,” Riscica continued. “I asked you to sit down and I think you should sit down and not disrespect my meeting by standing up and distracting us.”

Photographs taken of Riscica at different points in the meeting show him talking with his middle finger pressed against his face.

Trustee Daniel Cataldo, who was elected to the board in March, was seen in several other photographs with a hand raised in a way that shielded his face.

When asked about whether the newspaper should publish photographs of Riscica giving Whelan the middle finger and Cataldo covering his face, Freeman said, “I think you should distribute those as widely as you possibly can. I think you should show so-and-so giving the middle finger and covering their face. I think this warrants embarrassment.”

In her e-mail exchange with Blank, Drucker argued that public officials had the right to withhold their images from reference guides published by newspapers.

“Further, our trustees are private citizen volunteers who have indicated that they do not wish to have their pictures published in any Guide,” Drucker wrote in an e-mail. “Therefore, the Village of Plandome Heights, on behalf of the Village Officials, respectfully requests, as is their right under law, that your ‘Guide to Manhasset’ be published without photos of the Plandome Heights village officials.”

Blank Slate Media Publisher Steven Blank sent a reply e-mail to Drucker, saying the trustees did not have legal protection from having their photographs used by a news organization, nor was there any protection for non-public officials from having their photographs used within the context of a news story.

Blank continued that if “we are unable to receive photos from the officials in the Village of Plandome [Heights], we will take them at a public meeting or use ones that we have already taken – as is our right. They may not be as much to the liking to the officials as one supplied to us, but they will meet our needs.”

Drucker replied, saying that because the guide did not qualify as news, Blank Slate Media was not protected by First Amendment rights, and cited unnamed “guides to public officials” that she said did not contain pictures of Plandome Heights trustees.

Blank replied again, saying that the guide would serve as a reference for residents to stay informed of who their public officials are, and qualifies as editorial content that Blank Slate Media has the right to publish regardless of whether it has received the consent of the public officials in question.

In another reply e-mail, Drucker referred Blank to Section 50 of New York State’s Civil Rights law, which makes the commercial use of a person’s name or image without consent a misdemeanor offense.

Blank replied, saying “The photographs are being used to inform the public who their public officials are, not as part of any ad or any other commercial purpose. N.Y.S. Civil Rights Law Sec. 50 clearly does not pertain to what we are doing.”

Blank went on to say that the trustees were covered under the state’s public officers law, which states that the “legislature hereby finds that a free society is maintained when government is responsive and responsible to the public, and when the public is aware of governmental actions. The more open a government is with its citizenry, the greater the understanding and participation of the public in government.”

The law goes on to say that “The people’s right to know the process of governmental decision-making and to review the documents and statistics leading to determinations is basic to our society. Access to such information should not be thwarted by shrouding it with the cloak of secrecy or confidentiality. The legislature therefore declares that government is the public’s business and that the public, individually and collectively and represented by a free press, should have access to the records of government in accordance with the provisions of this article.”

Michelle Rea, the executive director of the New York Press Association, said in an e-mail that she wishes basic training for all elected officials, educating them on the concepts of an open government, freedom of information and free press, would lead to healthier government interaction.

“Any information provided to the public, that reminds them who their elected officials are, what they look like, and how they can be reached, contributes to good government. That elected officials think otherwise, is disturbing,” Rea said. “The people’s right to know about their elected officials and their decision-making processes is basic to our society. “Government is the public’s business, and people, individually and collectively, and represented by a free press, are guaranteed openness in government and access to a transparent system that encourages public participation. Period.”

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