GREENFIELD, Wis. (AP) — The mayor of this Milwaukee suburb has withdrawn his demand that an alderman remove a female mannequin from his office, on the condition that the alderman keep his office door closed.
Mayor Timothy Seider commented in a letter Tuesday to Alderman Thomas Pietrowski after telling him earlier that numerous complaints had been made by female employees about the mannequin.
Seider said some of the workers consider the mannequin offensive and demeaning to women.
But Pietrowski described the mannequin clothed in a gray T-shirt and tattered jeans as a piece of art, and his attorney, Peter Earle, said it was protected free speech.
"We will not keep Madeline in the closet," Earle said. "Alderman Pietrowski will open and close his door as he sees fit and have Madeline in complete display."
Unless the mayor retracts the conditional demand, apologizes for allowing a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel photographer in Pietrowski's office and pays Pietrowski's legal fees, the alderman will sue, Earle said.
"The mayor violated Pietrowski's Fourth Amendment right to privacy when he let a member of the media in Pietrowski's office to take a picture of the mannequin," Earle said.
"The question is whether he (Pietrowski) had a reasonable expectation of privacy in his office such that the mayor cannot enter without the alderman's knowledge or consent."
Seider said he rescinded his order to remove the mannequin because he did not think residents should pay tax dollars to fight about it in court.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2004-05-05-mannequin_x.htm
Mayor Timothy Seider commented in a letter Tuesday to Alderman Thomas Pietrowski after telling him earlier that numerous complaints had been made by female employees about the mannequin.
Seider said some of the workers consider the mannequin offensive and demeaning to women.
But Pietrowski described the mannequin clothed in a gray T-shirt and tattered jeans as a piece of art, and his attorney, Peter Earle, said it was protected free speech.
"We will not keep Madeline in the closet," Earle said. "Alderman Pietrowski will open and close his door as he sees fit and have Madeline in complete display."
Unless the mayor retracts the conditional demand, apologizes for allowing a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel photographer in Pietrowski's office and pays Pietrowski's legal fees, the alderman will sue, Earle said.
"The mayor violated Pietrowski's Fourth Amendment right to privacy when he let a member of the media in Pietrowski's office to take a picture of the mannequin," Earle said.
"The question is whether he (Pietrowski) had a reasonable expectation of privacy in his office such that the mayor cannot enter without the alderman's knowledge or consent."
Seider said he rescinded his order to remove the mannequin because he did not think residents should pay tax dollars to fight about it in court.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2004-05-05-mannequin_x.htm
