Cropp Decides Freedom of the Press Stops When She Says So

From the you can't make this up category... Linda Cropp, City Council Chair and Democratic Mayoral hopeful, apparently shut down the council's monthly breakfast meeting yesterday because a Washington Times reporter was lawfully recording it.

According to the Washington Times,

D.C. Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp yesterday abruptly ended the council's monthly breakfast meeting because a reporter for The Washington Times was recording the proceedings.

"You're not recording this, are you?" Mrs. Cropp, an at-large Democrat who is running for mayor, said to the reporter. "Stop."

When the reporter cited the council's rules allowing the breakfast to be public record, Mrs. Cropp said, "OK, meeting over."

Apparently this isn't the first time Mrs. Cropp has attempted to limit press access:

Mrs. Cropp, who opened the breakfast meetings this year, and other council members have long tried to limit coverage of the meetings, saying they are closed-door, informal sessions. Some members have said the sometimes raucous discussions during the breakfasts could make them look foolish if reported.

Yes, that's right, there is concern that the "sometimes raucous discussions" could make our council members "look foolish if reported." Trust me, we don't need the press to make the council look foolish - we need only look at the sorry state of the District these folks are supposed to be running.