The show will go on.
North suburban filmmaker Paul Traynor has decided to defy the threat of a lawsuit and premiere “New Trier: Tip of the Spear” on Sunday night at the Wilmette Theatre.
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The feature-length documentary details the fierce debate that broke out over the lineup of speakers at New Trier High School’s Feb. 28 Seminar Day on Race, and it explores the political connections and motivations of forces that protested against the event.
As the title suggests, Traynor sees in this event a window into a larger movement — a grass-roots conservative effort to win power at the hyperlocal level. I attended what was to have been the first showing of the film March 22, but Traynor decided at the last minute not to show it in light of a threatening “cease-and-desist” letter from attorney Adam Merrill on behalf of a group of New Trier-area residents who believed the film would defame them and violate their privacy rights.
Instead, as I related in my March 24 column, Traynor led a discussion with about 100 people in attendance in which he laid out the connections he sees between Seminar Day protests, state and national political organizations, and purportedly independent candidates for minor offices in Tuesday’s municipal elections.
Traynor’s decision to show his movie after all — in the theater at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Sunday and online later that night at facebook.com/newtriermovie — was based on a thunderous reply to Merrill sent on Traynor’s behalf Tuesday by attorney Michael Lieber that outlined the absurdity of Merrill’s attempt to block the showing of a movie based on rumors of its content, particularly when the movie deals with material already in the public record.
The letter from Lieber threatened the complainers with a countersuit for malicious prosecution if they persisted and concluded, “perhaps your clients should avail themselves of their own First Amendment right and make a film of their own.”
Meanwhile, I’ve heard from many readers elsewhere in the six-county area alleging that right-wing stalking horse candidates are trying to win seats on park, library, township and village boards. And while I can’t referee these claims, I can use this space to remind voters all across the spectrum that these small, low-turnout elections can have big consequences that can ultimately reverberate nationally.
If you stay home on Tuesday because you can’t be bothered to assess the merits and motives of those running for office in your communities, you’re forfeiting your right to complain about your local governance in the months and years to come.
Re: Tweets
The winner of the most recent reader poll for the funniest tweet of the week is @AmishPornStar1, who had this to say about President Trump’s regulatory purge: “Don’t think of it as ‘rolling back environmental protection & destroying the earth’… Think of it as ‘creating respiratory therapy jobs!'”
Twitter @EricZorn