First, thanks to Cool Justice readers for all the great tips.
Maybe UConn basketball coach Jim Calhoun wasn't thinking straight when he tried to shout down reporter Ken Krayeske and talk about facts at the same time.
Practice what you scream, coach.
It certainly looks like men's basketball brought in only $7.33 million instead of the $12 million Calhoun claimed.
UConn men's basketball generated $7.3 million in revenue and spent $6.1 million in 2007-08, according to information Athletic Director Jeff Hathaway and Assistant Athletic Director Maureen O'Connor filed with the U.S. Department of Education as part of its Equity in Athletics Analysis.
Maybe Calhoun's $12 million figure is from the men's and women's team combined, which totaled $12.6 million in revenue in '07-08.
I got this from the Sports Illustrated (SI) site. Ken's getting slammed at that site and in the comments to the video that someone, not me, posted at YouTube. I bet much of it was cut off, as the obvious point about why University's pay these outrageous salaries in what are purportedly public institutions. Calhoun, Women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma, and Connecticut football coach Randy Edsall all make around the same amount, and are among the state's highest paid employees.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun got into a heated exchange at a postgame news conference Saturday with a freelance journalist and political activist who questioned why the coach of a public university was making $1.6 million in tough economic times.
"Not a dime back," Calhoun joked as Ken Krayeske asked about Calhoun's salary and the state's budget deficit, which is estimated at $944 million for the current fiscal year and up to $8 billion over the next two years.
When Krayeske continued the line of questioning, Calhoun got angry.
"My best advice to you is, shut up," said Calhoun, who offered to talk to Krayeske after the news conference that followed the top-ranked Huskies' 64-50 victory over South Florida.
"If these guys covered this stuff, I wouldn't have to do it," said Krayeske, who had been granted a photo pass to attend the news conference.
Now visibly angry, Calhoun responded.
"Quite frankly, we bring in $12 million to the university, nothing to do with state funds," Calhoun shouted back. "We make $12 million a year for this university. Get some facts and come back and see me. ... Don't throw out salaries and other things.
"Get some facts and come back and see me. We turn over $12 million to the University of Connecticut, which is state-run. Next question."
This morning brought good news for Ken Krayeske, reports Jon Lender at the Courant:
Prosecutors at first offered only to nolle the charges of breach of peace and interfering with police -- that is, to not prosecute them but reserve the right to reopen the case for about a year -- on the grounds that Hartford police were in a "no-win" situation because they would have been strongly criticized if something happened to Rell.
But Krayeske's lawyer, Norman Pattis, pushed for an outright dismissal, saying it was Krayeske who was in the "no-win" situation because he was a nonviolent citizen exercising his First Amendment right by taking pictures of Rell for his website, www.the40yearplan.com.
[...]
Prosecutors then agreed to the dismissal, which did not involve any waiving by Krayeske of his right to bring a wrongful arrest suit in federal court.
Norm Pattis did a tremendous job with this case. Congratulations, Ken!
I know this story has grown quite a bit since this was originally posted... But today is the day that Ken Krayeske (and freedom of speech, political association, THE LIST, FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, and other privacy issues) gets a day in court.
OK. He has worked on the Green party campaign for the Governor, the Lamont campaign for Senate, and does a lot of Blogging and work as an indie Journalist. Apparently he is perceived as a serious enough threat to our paranoid Governor Jodi Rell that he was arrested at her innaugural prade.
"HARTFORD, Conn. -- Gov. M. Jodi Rell's security detail only watched when a woman left the sidewalk and quickly walked toward Rell during the inaugural parade Wednesday. The woman shook Rell's hand and melted into the crowd.
But a slightly built man who jumped off a mountain bike and ran into the parade route ahead of Rell was intercepted by a state trooper and arrested by a Hartford police officer.
One difference in the way the two incursions were handled: A state police intelligence unit had previously identified the man, Ken Krayeske, as a political activist and potential threat.
A potential threat? What was so threatening about Krayeske that the Trooper had to step in and grab him? And why, and how, had they identified him?(MUCH more below)
(Wow. This is an awesome letter. Thanks Sue! - promoted by spazeboy)
Yes, the luau-shirt wearing reporter who spent Ned Lamont's campaign badgering him about his money finally receives a well-deserved kick in the pants by Doug Hardy, an associate editor of the Journal Inquirer in Manchester. This letter appeared in Dixon's own paper, The Connecticut Post.
(Unfortunately, the Connecticut Post doesn't put their letters to the editor online, so a link is unavailable. If you don't believe me, go buy Sunday's edition).
By ANDY THIBAULT
The Cool Justice Report
www.cooljustice.blogspot.com
Feb. 8, 2007
EDITOR'S NOTE: This column is available for reprint courtesy of The Cool Justice Report, http://cooljustice.b...
Is Ken Krayeske any less of a journalist than those who process the low-grade vomit of politicians, business leaders or police chiefs over the course of many years in the same job?
The short answer, of course, is no.
Let's look at it another way. Suppose you're a bowler. You have fun bowling. You're pretty good. You join the pro bowlers tour and earn some money. Guess what? You're a professional bowler.
For those mainstream journalists who still don't get it, a slut - male or female - is an amateur. A whore is a pro.
Clearly, the bar one must hurdle to become a so-called professional journalist is pretty low. I contend this is a good thing.
Anyone and everyone should be able to stir the pot of democracy and enhance the public discourse. As I tell students, to be journalists, they must hang out with people. They must gather facts. They must have a focus. They must write simple declarative sentences. They must revise their writing.
Ideally, this would be a meritocracy of sorts.
Readers, viewers and listeners make the call on legitimacy by their choices of venues. Increasingly, they are looking for alternatives.
Whereas citizens used to go to newspapers to fight corruption when the system failed them, now they must go elsewhere. Newspapers, tv and radio stations have shown they are not interested.
Many citizens now go to blogs and other alternative media for their news.
For those unfamiliar with Krayeske, he is the journalist and political activist who was arrested for taking photographs of Gov. Rell's inaugural parade in Hartford last month.
The cops and courts have closed ranks on the Krayeske case. Yeah, we circulated a flyer about this dangerous vegetarian / pacifist before the parade, but we knew it was Krayeske and we didn't know it was Krayeske when he took those photos - er, "breached the parade route" by stepping off a curb and/ or he was riding his bike too fast near the parade. We forgot to give him a speeding ticket. We did remember to take his freedom for 12 or 13 hours until the inaugural festivities were over, but that was just a coincidence. We jacked his bond up to $75,000 and hassled him for wanting a lawyer, but that's nobody's fault.
Should any citizen - even a journalist - be treated this way?
Many members of the establishment press are not very concerned. Some are threatened by Krayeske.
Krayeske went off the track. He had something greater than a one-dimensional life. Besides working for conventional dailies and weeklies, he wrote for High Times and managed the gubernatorial campaign for a Green Party candidate last fall. He has been busted for civil disobedience at an anti-war protest.
He writes with a point of view and makes no attempt to disguise it.
Mainstream journalists would never do that. Some hide behind a cloak of objectivity and actively support the status quo. The best among them try to be fair. Others take the tack: Let's screw this crook in as fair a way as possible.
As the historians Judith and William Serrin put it in the book, MUCKRAKING, The New Press, 2002: "Journalists wear disguises, and one of them is the disguise of objectivity ... All good journalists have agendas. They wish to put the crooked sheriff in jail. They wish to unveil the patent medicine fraud. They wish to free the innocent man from jail."
Some journalists want their readers to get angry. They want to see wages go up and the death rates of babies go down. They want to see changes in a political judicial system that results in more minorities and the poor going to jail than to college. They wonder why some people are in jail while powerful people who commit crimes are untouchable.
I got fired up about this column after I read a piece in The Connecticut Post by Ken Dixon. Dixon is a decent guy. He is basically a solid reporter. He really missed the boat, though, on the Krayeske case, providing some cover for those who would turn away from police and government misconduct.
Krayeske, Dixon asserts, "should be happy that the Hartford police did not massage his noggin ..."
It appears this is something Dixon would like to have done himself. I gather Dixon is pissed off that Krayeske dared to mingle with reporters and ask a question of Gov. Rell during a campaign stop.
"He crossed the line ... ," Dixon wrote. "This is a no-no and working reporters don't like civilians - let alone opposing campaign managers - chiming in as if they were reporters too."
Oops, Mr. Dixon. I must diagnose you with a case of too much time in the Capitol Press Corps. So what if Joe The Hot Dog Vendor or Jane The Janitor have questions for the governor as well? The mainstream press doesn't own this space. We all do.
Worse than the noggin comment, Dixon also wrote: "[Krayeske's] even tried to shame the Connecticut Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists into funding his little winter promo campaign .."
Forgive me, but here are a few facts:
When cops violate the civil rights of citizens, said citizens tend to be charged with criminal offenses. The classic example is cops charging interfering after they beat someone.
Krayeske was covering the parade and his photos have been published widely, Prosecutors are dragging out Krayeske's case, refusing to look at witness statements exonerating Krayeske.
There are very few capable and tough civil rights lawyers in Connecticut, and these lawyers cost money. At the national level, the Society of Professional Journalists does not have much of a problem supporting bloggers, videographers, freelancers or others outside the mainstream.
Who's naked now, Ken Dixon? Who's flacking for whom?
Why wouldn't a state Society of Professional Journalists stand up against civil rights violations of anyone, whether they are mere citizens, journalists or hacks? Why wouldn't a state Society of Professional Journalists respond to inquiries from someone whose civil rights have been violated?
A good reporter would not need a travel budget to find shame in this matter.
Andy Thibault, author of Law & Justice In Everyday Life and a private investigator, is an adjunct lecturer of English and a mentor in the MFA writing program at Western Connecticut State University. He also serves as a consulting editor for the literary journal Connecticut Review. Website, www.andythibault.com and Blog, http://cooljustice.b...
A federal jury found today that the city of Seattle violated the fourth amendment rights of 200 protesters who were arrested during the WTO demonstrations in 1999.
Just got the below message via e-mail. I believe it came from Ken's web site
Help Protect The Bill of Rights Tues,
1/30 - 8 a.m. - Hartford The CT Supreme Court
Rally for free speech! Now that my attorney is paid for, let's show the world that Connecticut will not tolerate any impingement on civil rights by gathering in front of the CT Supreme Court and rallying for free speech.
Tuesday, Jan. 30 • 8 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. CT Supreme Court North Stairs 231 Capitol Ave., Hartford
After the rally, at about 8:45 a.m., I will proceed in a peaceful and orderly fashion into the court house on Lafayette Street two blocks away to meet my attorney and enter into court.
For anyone who wishes to join us, the Court is open to the public, and I'd love to see supporters sitting in the gallery.
Remember that you check your rights to unlawful search at the door of the courthouse, so keep your guns and drugs at home.
We will hold the rally at the Supreme Court out of respect for the daily operations of justice at the Lafeyette Street Court.
The First Amendment is at stake here: Can a staunch advocate for democracy stand on the street and take photos of a public event without being harassed by the police?
"Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of Speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably assemble."
Nor shall Gov. M. Jodi Rell, the HPD or the CT State Police.
In the unlikely event that the state drops the disorderly conduct and interfering with an officer charges against me before the Tuesday, Jan. 30 court date, this rally will be canceled. Keep checking this website, 40 year plan, for more details.
I am sure there were bloggers present during today's hearing and I look forward to their reports, but I just thought I would comment on the Courant story now on the front page of their web site
(Looks to be an important milestone in figuring out how exactly Krayeske got on "the list." Also looks to be invitation only, unless someone can wrangle an invite. - promoted by mattw)
The legislature's Public Safety and Security Committee announced Friday it will hold an informational hearing Jan. 23 to discuss Ken Krayeske's arrest and how he was singled out by Hartford police.
....
Both lawmakers and Rell have said they are concerned about such a list and want to know more about the situation. Speakers at the Jan. 23 hearing will be included by invitation only, but attendance is open to the public.
The General Assembly's Bulletin indicates that the hearing will be at 12:30 in Room 2D of the Legislative Office Building (directions).
OK. He has worked on the Green party campaign for the Governor, the Lamont campaign for Senate, and does a lot of Blogging and work as an indie Journalist. Apparently he is perceived as a serious enough threat to our paranoid Governor Jodi Rell that he was arrested at her innaugural prade.
"HARTFORD, Conn. -- Gov. M. Jodi Rell's security detail only watched when a woman left the sidewalk and quickly walked toward Rell during the inaugural parade Wednesday. The woman shook Rell's hand and melted into the crowd.
But a slightly built man who jumped off a mountain bike and ran into the parade route ahead of Rell was intercepted by a state trooper and arrested by a Hartford police officer.
One difference in the way the two incursions were handled: A state police intelligence unit had previously identified the man, Ken Krayeske, as a political activist and potential threat.
A potential threat? What was so threatening about Krayeske that the Trooper had to step in and grab him? And why, and how, had they identified him?(MUCH more below)
The press conference by Rep. Lawlor yesterday was incredibly powerful. I was so pleased to see Democrats like Lawlor (who was joined by Reps. Denise Merrill and Chris Caruso) treat this incident with the seriousness and gravity it deserves. Lawlor also had some very complimentary things to say about the CT blogging community and our growing power as citizen watchdogs.
But that's not all! We're at the start of a new legislative session, about which BranfordBoy writes:
Much has been (and will be) made of the so-called "veto-proof majority" enjoyed by Democrats, which strikes me as a real knee-slapper. I certainly don't expect anything much in the way of a Democratic agenda and unified Dem support for any measure, except the most non-controversial, is probably a will o' the wisp. When even the Dem Speaker of the House can't be counted on to support the Party's nominee for U.S. Senate, what sort of firm leadership can we reasonably expect? And what moral authority will Amann have to enforce Party discipline, assuming he even wants to?
Roll call votes will, I suspect, reveal not how strong the "veto-proof" Dems are but how weak, with those voting against their Party providing a useful who's who of DINOs for future reference.
So before I open this thing up to questions and discussion about the Krayeske arrest and the 2007 legislative session...
This is the first time we've had an online discussion with a state legislator here at My Left Nutmeg, and I want to thank Representative Lawlor for spending time here tonight engaging his fellow progressives. Please give him a warm My Left Nutmeg welcome.
(Good idea. Good template letter. - promoted by BranfordBoy)
Let me urge all of you to write you representatives in the General Assembly about the Ken Krayeske case, asking that they support any investigation Mike Lawlor's Judiciary Committee might pursue, and any other actions necessary to ensure this sort of thing doesn't recur.
Even if you believe the case against KK will be dropped, it's important that our reps know we're paying attention, and that we care about this kind of stuff! You might want to cc your local DTC chair as well...
A representative chunk of the letter I wrote is below the fold.
Update: I e-mailed my letter in the middle of the night last night, and by 11:00am I had a positive response from my wonderful representative, Claire Janowski. It's clear to me the GA is taking this matter very seriously indeed.
Gabe, who seems destined to become the haymishe Johnny Cochran, uses his fine legal mind to slice and dice the police report on Ken Krayeske's arrest to stunning effect.
I sincerely hope (and fully expect) the charges will be dropped. OTOH, the trial would be great fun with Hartford's Keystone Kops providing comic relief.
"Apparently state police employees were trolling the internet, blog sites prior to the inauguration seeing if anyone was talking about any type of interference of the Inauguration. And they encountered Ken Krayeske's one post that to me is not at all threatening..."
Check the stats on your sitemeter.
I am sure you will all find visits from the "State of Connecticut" in your stats. I know that I get visits from them everytime I post something on Jodi Rell. (more below)
Bloggers broke the Ken Krayeske story and now it's all over the state with articles in the Register, the Courant, the CT Post (and others, via the AP's Steno Sue).
The Register wins the best headline award: "Arrest Exposes State's Threat List," hits the nail on the head, despite the shucking and jiving going on. (Quotes below are from the Register article by Greg Hladky.)
Animal rights activists, environmentalists, bloggers, anti-war protestors, Greens, feminists, and labor organizers have something in common: the government thinks that they're all potentially dangerous to public safety.
What may surprise you is that this isn't a new idea, or even one plucked from the world of neocon fantasy, but rather, a basic assumption of traditional democratic theory, relating to the way individual opinion is transformed into public action. A long description over the fold.
This CTNewsJunkie story should alarm all of us in the CT political blogging/people-powered media community.
I could see this happening in a totalitarian country, but in Connecticut?
A freelance journalist, who has worked on political campaigns, was arrested by Hartford Police Wednesday as he took photos of Gov. M. Jodi Rell's inaugural parade in downtown Hartford.
Ken Krayeske, who worked on Green Party candidate Cliff Thornton's campaign for governor against Rell, was near the corner of Ford and Pearl Street photographing Rell's inaugural parade when, according to the police report, he was identified as a "political activist" and a threat to the governor. Krayeske was arrested and charged with breach of peace and interfering with an officer.
Krayeske is also a former contributor to CTNewsJunkie.
This morning brought good news for Ken Krayeske, reports Jon Lender at the 
Rep. Mike Lawlor (D-East Haven) is here to chat with 
MLN is powered by