The second situation — which pits the alternative newspaper Orlando Weekly against the Orlando-based Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation (MBI) — is a bit murkier. And, for now, it lacks a happy ending.
On October 19, three advertising executives from the Weekly were arrested by the MBI — an odd city/state/federal hybrid tasked, according to its Web site, with “investigating medium- to high-level Narcotics, Vice, and Organized Crime organizations” — and charged with sundry offenses, including aiding and abetting prostitution. The arrests came after the trio was approached by a pair of undercover police officers who, according to the MBI, made it abundantly clear that they were seeking to advertise their prostitution services.
In a conversation with the daily Orlando Sentinel, MBI director Bill Lutz linked the arrests to MBI’s ongoing efforts to stamp out prostitution in central Florida, and to the Weekly’s refusal to aid that effort by ceasing to run “adult services” and “certified massage” advertisements. The Weekly, however, claimed that all its advertising is legal, and that it was the victim of retaliatory justice. As a statement from publisher Rick Schreiber put it: “The arrests are a blatant attempt to infringe on the First Amendment rights of this newspaper and its advertisers. . . . We suspect that the MBI has targeted our company because we are the only newspaper in the area that has been critical of the MBI in a series of investigative articles over the past several years.” This interpretation jibes with a post by Sentinel columnist and blogger Scott Maxwell, titled “MBI vs. Orlando Weekly Raises a Red Flag.”
The Weekly, after all, has been all over the MBI like fleas on a dog in recent years. The Weekly doesn’t like the MBI. And the MBI doesn’t like the Weekly. That’s common knowledge. And yet, in our story today, MBI Director Bill Lutz seemed to deny that his department had a grudge against the paper. If that’s what he’s saying, it’s a crock. And if he’s not being honest about that, it makes you wonder what other parts of his story leave something to be desired.
In a best-case scenario for the Weekly, the paper would benefit from the same broad-based public wrath that followed the arrests of Lacey and Larkin. (Including, for example, the reaction of Clint Bolick, an official at the conservative Goldwater Institute, who told Phoenix radio station KTAR that the Arizona subpoena was “possibly the broadest invasion of privacy and free-speech rights that I’ve ever seen.”) A “Defend the Orlando Weekly” rally that took place earlier this week may help. So might a devastating article, “Operation MBI Shame,” posted at OrlandoWeekly.com following the arrests. Here’s an excerpt.
[R]ecently, undercover MBI agents have sexually harassed strippers, destroyed evidence, orchestrated and videotaped live sex shows, and jailed women for selling commonly available pornographic videos. The MBI is an inept, inefficient police organization, answerable to no one. . . . And if you dare confront the agency on their appalling record, they will try to put you out of business.
Still, given the nature of the charges against the paper — and the fact that Florida conservatism has a distinct Bible-Belt streak — the prospects for a popular backlash are uncertain.
