RIDGEFIELD, Conn. — It was shortly before Christmas when a team calling themselves First Amendment auditors entered the Ridgefield Town Hall with cameras and started interacting with government officials.
“Can you please shut that off?” said town employee Patricia Pacheco. “No, that's silly,” said Josh Abrams. “What do you mean no, get out of here!” exclaimed Pacheco.
Pacheco, a town employee, eventually hit the panic button under her desk as the interaction between her and Abrams escalated. At one point, Pacheco took a folder and hit Abrams.
“Oh my God! Ok, you are going to have to call someone now unfortunately, she’s in trouble,” said Abrams on the video.
Ridgefield Police responded and charged Pacheco with disorderly conduct. “We go in and we want to flex our rights and stress test the Constitution,” said Abrams.
In this era of citizen journalism, there's a growing group of internet advocates who call themselves First Amendment auditors. Some say they are protecting our rights, while others say they are antagonists who are in it for money.
Connecticut is called the Constitution state, and this is an issue fundamental to our democracy. Freedom of the press and free speech. Where does it begin and end? A difficult question to answer without a slippery slope.
State Rep. Pat Callahan, a Republican from New Fairfield, is looking into crafting state law to limit auditor access. Callahan said he believes there’s an ulterior motive.
“Let’s not even call them first amendment people. What they are doing is trying to start a fight, said Callahan. “If they were really interested in information they certainly could pick up the phone and make an appointment with any of the departments at these town halls and not come in, put a phone an inch from your nose and try to provoke you."
But Abrams, who runs a YouTube channel called ‘Accountability For All’ told FOX61 that while he does make money off the clicks, it’s about education.
“It is a balance, but I can tell you one thing. Myself and many other large channels that do what I do never sacrifice the integrity of this movement for clicks and views,” said Abrams.
He responded to the idea of state law by putting rules on the constitution. “It’s a very dangerous precipice when the government has the ability to be the arbiter of who can’t and can’t exercise their rights.”
During many of these encounters, police are called. Capt. Jeffrey Raines of the Ridgefield Police Department said, “It’s really mutual respect. If you show up and give anyone you are dealing with the respect they deserve you are going to get it back.”
Ridgefield Police told FOX61 they conduct internal training on First Amendment rights.
“We advise the public and all the other agencies to do the same internally to educate their employees on First Amendment rights because we know that they could show up any day at any time,” said Capt. Raines. Ridgefield Police said the people shooting the videos know to stick to public areas.
As for the town employee, Pacheco was given the chance to apologize and avoid a charge. She refused, but her disorderly conduct charge was eventually dropped.
Callahan admitted he's not sure how to craft legislation that would still be constitutional, while Abrams said if it does become law it will be, “As good as the paper it’s written on.”
Matt Caron is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at mcaron@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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