Don’t you love those old “knock knock” jokes? My new favorite goes something like this:

Knock. Knock.
Who’s there?
It’s the ACLU. Open up, or we’ll sue you for the fourth time.

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper apparently hasn’t gotten the joke yet, as the ACLU continues to sue the city over a lack of transparency regarding details of the DNC 2008 convention.

From the Denver Post:

It is Hickenlooper — himself a longtime contributor to the ACLU — who time and again has touted his record as a civil-rights advocate and champion of government transparency.

Yet his city won’t say what it’s buying with $50 million in convention security money. And it wouldn’t, until sued, release information as basic as the policies of its jail.

Here’s news to you, Mr. Mayor: You’re not the only one who’s disappointed, sorely.

“There’s a big secrecy thing surrounding this convention,” says ACLU of Colorado legal director Mark Silverstein. “We disagree about whether the city so far has lived up to its commitments about civil-liberties concerns.”

The group has sued the city three times in two months and has no plans of backing down, regardless of Hickenlooper’s bruised feelings.

In fact, City Hall soon should expect further lawsuits, this time filed by four ACLU clients whom the city wrongly jailed for up to three weeks because of mistaken identity. The city has declined to take responsibility for the screw-ups, and court cases may be the only way to prompt new jail policies in time for what likely will be intensely publicized arrests during the convention.

Mayor Hickenlooper, please do taxpayers everywhere a favor and open up. If you have nothing to hide, no one gets hurt, plus the ACLU will stop knocking at your door… for a little while.

Category: sunshine