TDMR believes that personal attacks on individuals are unwarranted and attempts to steer a high road in dealing with Medicaid issues. But TDMR also believes that the conduct of public officials, especially those in the employ of the Texas government and working in law enforcement, is very much open to public scrutiny and comment.
History of TDMR Articles
Since the end of September, TDMR has published two articles on its website highlighting the arrest of Jack Stick, the Deputy Inspector General for Enforcement of HHSC-OIG, for DWI back in September 2012 and that his case is still outstanding more than a year later. It was time to say something about this outrageous situation.
TDMR produced and published a short video containing footage from the arrest dash cam video, excerpts from his arrest documents and footage of Stick testifying before the Texas legislature. The video highlighted the hypocrisy of Stick telling journalists at the time his arrest became public that blood tests would prove him innocent when the arrest documents which were made public much later show he apparently never took a blood test.
Our last article published at the end of November reported that Stick had again delayed his DWI hearing before the Travis County Criminal Court to a date in December, then going on 14 months after his arrest.
Complaint with YouTube
In early December, TDMR discovered that YouTube had removed the video on Stick’s arrest from our YouTube channel because a complaint had been made that it violated YouTube/Google’s Terms of Service – that it was an attempt to harass and personally attack Stick.
TDMR was given an opportunity to appeal YouTube’s decision and our submission simply stated that the video was fair comment on the conduct of a public official.
Video Reinstated
This past week YouTube reinstated the video and it is again available on YouTube as well as the TDMR website. We thank Google and YouTube for reversing their decision and opting for free speech.
TDMR will never know who made the complaint to attempt to censor comment on Stick.
Video Now Broadly Shared
As a result of this attempt, the video and an older version which was never published have been placed on a number of different video sharing websites globally so that it can never be taken down again. The videos have now been picked up by other channels concerned about censorship as well.
Also TDMR in the next few weeks will be obtaining and making available the entirety of the dash cam video of Stick’s arrest and ensuring that these will be placed appropriately so that they too will remain within the public domain.
Whether Stick is eventually found guilty or innocent, these videos will remain as valid public comment and a record of Stick’s conduct.