Fung and Cicilline ‘block’ Twitter users, Raimondo and Elorza don’t

May 27--House Minority Leader Patricia Morgan blocked firefighters enraged over the financial collapse of the Central Coventry Fire District.

Cranston Mayor and gubernatorial candidate Allan Fung blocked the new press secretary of longtime political rival Gov. Gina Raimondo.

And state Board of Elections Commissioner Stephen Erickson "blocked [former gubernatorial candidate Ken] Block after Block blocked me," Erickson tweeted.

Before a federal judge ordered President Donald Trump to stop blocking fellow Twitter users, most Rhode Island public officials had barely considered the legality, ethics or optics of shunning people on the micro-blogging social media site.

But, according to U.S. District Court Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald, the "interactive space" where Twitter users can comment and share the president's tweets is a "designated public forum," and blocking people "based on their political speech constitutes viewpoint discrimination that violates the First Amendment."

Although Buchwald only ruled on the @RealDonaldTrump account, her 75-page decision deals broadly with "public official's blocking," which could theoretically apply to any elected or appointed state and local officials as well.

"We would argue 'no,'" said American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island executive director Steven Brown when asked whether politicians such as Raimondo or Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza are free to block people. "If it's an official government account, they should not have a right to block people."

Buchwald concluded that Trump's tweets, which are being added to the National Archives and at are least partially managed by a White House staffer, were "government controlled."

But Brown said while that would likely extend to governors or mayors of large cities, who have publicly paid communications staff at their disposal, it might not necessarily apply to all officials, such as General Assembly members.

"Those are usually personal accounts that are run without any Statehouse involvement, so the fact they, the elected officials, use the account to address legislative matters may not necessarily turn it into a 'government"' account subject to the standards cited in the court opinion," Brown wrote in an email. "If, say, legislative staff were involved in running the accounts, that would be a different and clearer situation. In any event, we are examining the issue."

Buchwald also said Twitter's "mute" button, which prevents someone's tweets from appearing in your timeline without cutting off all contact, is a more constitutionally sound option.

State Ethics Commission executive director Jason Gramitt, in a tweet, agreed.

"Blocking is unnecessary, inappropriately vindictive, and a denial of public access when done by a public official," Gramitt tweeted. "For the thin-skinned, use Mute."

So where do Rhode Island's top pols stand on blocking?

"We do not block people on Twitter," Raimondo spokesman Josh Block texted the Journal, later sending a screenshot from the governor's account to prove it. "Nobody muted either."

"There are no users blocked from the mayor's account at this time," Emily Crowell, communications director for Democrat Elorza, wrote in an email. "It has not come up, nor is it our policy to block users."

Neither House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello nor Senate President Dominick Ruggerio -- both Democrats and relatively light Twitter users -- have blocked anyone, their respective spokesmen said.

Three-fourths of Rhode Island's all-Democratic Congressional delegation -- Sen. Jack Reed, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse and Rep. Jim Langevin -- do not block people, according to emails from their aides.

But U.S. Rep. David Cicilline, a power user by Rhode Island political Twitter standards, does block on rare occasions, said spokesman Rich Luchette.

"He only uses the block button when an account engages in abusive conduct -- not political disagreements, but things like racial or ethnic slurs, homophobia, Photoshopped images of David in a gas chamber at Auschwitz, etc.," Luchette wrote in an email with an attached screenshot of an unprintable post from an angry tweeter.

Whether backing Trump or as a result of being outnumbered in a blue state, Rhode Island Republicans last week were more likely to push back on the court's no-block ruling. (And an informal Journal Twitter query of people blocked by Rhode Island officials brought a high percentage of Republicans.)

"I am not sure I agree with this ruling. I don't agree with my Twitter account being an open meeting," Morgan, a GOP gubernatorial hopeful, said in an interview. "We get harassed and trolled. That order said because you are a public official, you have to put up with it."

Morgan said she blocked firefighters who became "vicious" in the Central Coventry Fire District saga, but acknowledged that there have been others along the way.

Rep. Mike Chippendale, R-Foster, wrote in response to Gramitt's post on muting that "when others use your feed to spread hate, attacks on innocent individuals, and use obscene and distasteful language -- blocking is perfectly appropriate."

Fung "has blocked some users when they have used profanity or made continuous, nuisance posts," Fung campaign press secretary Andrew Augustus wrote.

Among those blocked by @MayorFung was Raimondo campaign press secretary Emily Samsel, who said she was cut off from Fung tweets within two days of joining Democrat Raimondo's reelection push.

"In my experience it's not common for opposing campaign staff to block each other on Twitter," Samsel wrote.

Mutual blocking has quieted (at least online) one of Rhode Island's longest-running Twitter clashes, a dispute over election-integrity issues between businessman and former gubernatorial candidate Block and the Board of Election's Erickson.

"I blocked him on both Facebook and Twitter because I have no interest in openly debating on social media important issues I will have in front of the Board of Elections," Block wrote to The Journal. "He then blocked me, which I have appreciated greatly."

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