The brouhaha over alleged censorship of a Deerfield Village Board meeting videotape took another twist last week, when Comcast backed Mayor Steve Harris’ contention that his joke about editing out a resident’s negative comment was taken literally by a technician.
A tape of the July 18 meeting shows David Spak speaking out against a board decision to add a carriage walk–a sidewalk that abuts the street–during reconstruction of Stratford Road. Near the end of his comments, the sound cuts out for a few seconds, while the video shows him continuing to talk.
The deleted words, Spak said last week, expressed his feeling that residents had been “sandbagged” by the village because they believed the sidewalk plan was dead or, at worst, still up for discussion.
In a recess, when the tape was still rolling, Harris remarked to another village official that he talked to a Comcast employee about editing the “sandbagged” comment.
“I think I struck a nerve,” said Spak, an attorney who lives in the 1500 block of Stratford.
A Comcast employee “took the comment very literally [and] made the change,” which is in accordance with company policy, said Comcast spokeswoman Patricia Andrews-Keenan. Comcast provides free broadcasting of local government meetings but does not control content, she said.
Harris, who was on vacation, missed Monday’s meeting but Village Manager Bob Franz read a letter from the mayor apologizing “for my poor attempt at humor.” Harris wrote that he “never communicated to Comcast or anyone else to alter or otherwise modify the taping of our most recent meeting” and apologized that the flap had taken the focus away from the sidewalks.
Spak rejected Harris’ explanation.
“We’re supposed to believe that this is a giant coincidence or that someone didn’t get his joke? I didn’t hear anyone laughing,” Spak said.
On the other hand, he was happy that, in the face of resistance, Harris agreed to revisit the sidewalk plan.
“I don’t care that my comments got deleted from the tape,” Spak said. “I care about my neighborhood.”
