Reporters ejected from public meeting

Two reporters from The Plain Dealer [Cleveland] were ejected from a public meeting Thursday after Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora refused to answer their questions.

Dealer metro editor Chris Quinn said it was unacceptable behavior, but noted that the newspaper didn’t lose access completely since it had a third reporter covering the meeting who wasn’t ordered to leave.

“Our lawyers are letting them know this won’t be tolerated in the future,” he said. “It’s unacceptable to have reporters escorted out of a public meeting. It’s about the most dramatic action I’ve seen the county commissioner take here.”

Reporter Henry J. Gomez said this has never happened to him or his colleague, Mark Puente.

“It was surprising, something we weren’t expecting,” he said. “We didn’t think he’d like our questions but we didn’t expect him to ask his security guards to remove us from the room.”

The questions were regarding a county employee and the reasons surrounding why she was hired.