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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1978 12-26 Attorney helped get news out THE DISPATCH EXTRA east wind . e a4/i918 Attorney h get news out By SCOTT CARLSON city avoid needless unfavorable Staff Writer publicity. When it comes to city attor- For example,take a recent neys who know how to deal with Saturday afternoon when the the public and the press,Maple- Maplewood Council was set to wood's Don interview the last of its finalists Lais is at the for city manager.Lais urged a top of my list. reluctant Council to release the .' That's be- names of the finalists. l ,$ cause Lais has The prior Friday I called three 4, an excellent , Council members and all were understanding , reluctant to release the names, of the duties of even though the interviews were " i' the press— at public meetings."I don't know which repre- if we should indicate who they sents the pub- are,"Councilman Donald lic.He's the Wiegert said. kind of man Carlson who can help a See-East Wind,Page 3(E) I 1 Continued from Page 1(E) _ Die oto /4 Mayor John Greavu and Coun- cilman Norman Anderson • agreed.They explained that • some candidates were from the • Twin Cities area and that dis- closing names might jeopardize current jobs if the applicants .- „,. weren't selected as Maplewood's i. •! .. manager. "I just couldn't jeopardize a <' man's job,”Greavu said. .:; Anderson said the situation �. was"kind of touchy." $: . I didn't dispute his feelings. # "But won't people wonder if there has been any discrimina- tion in selecting the candidates if they don't know who the finalists . are?"I asked. "No, beca use we used a very '` safe policy,"Anderson respond- Don Lais ed. "We went through all the ap- plicants by number.We took the ones with the most experience." "I imagine Mr.Carlson or any- The Council then rated the one else could find out who these cabidates,and those with the men are, Lais continued. "...If most tallies were the finalists he' he has to beat the bushes to get said. the names,that's what he'll do. But when Saturday came, the "The press is less belligerent Council was willing to reassess when the names are voluntarily its position on releasing the given." It'Imes. Citizen Mike Wasiluk,a for- "It's not my prerogative to mer North St.Paul-Maplewood disclose the names,"Lais told District 622 school board mem- the Council.But he said there ber,told the Council that the probably already were"leaks" reporter's common sense could about the finalists. be trusted in this situation. "Scott also has a duty to his job,"Lais responded. "You can't ask him to compromise his principles." After interviewing Carl-Laird,. a Bay City,Mich.man,the Coun- cil disclosed the names of the four finalists,and Maplewood read the facts in a Dispatch news story. I believe that Lais'advice made the difference.