Kate Stewart's Egotistical Shell Game
Montgomery County Council President Kate Stewart and her lawyer have once again changed their story about why The Montgonion can’t attend Council press briefings.
First, they said our use of satire disqualified us as news media. When we destroyed that argument, they pivoted to say our site needed clearer labeling and disclosures. We placated them. Now they’re nitpicking our site article by article, caption by caption. They combed through hundreds of posts spanning three years to dig up tiny “gotchas” to justify keeping us out. Here's what the super-sleuths found:
Our August 27 editorial, “Kate Stewart’s Hypocrisy on Full Display,” doesn’t name every source or explain why anonymity was granted. (Just like we couldn’t find a Councilmember willing to back Kate's position, we couldn’t find one willing to say so on the record. Nobody wants to cross Kate Stewart publicly—and for good reason, as we’ve learned.)
A satirical parody claiming local GOP leaders launched a ballot initiative for the “Alcatrazwood Detention Center” on Lake Needwood’s island was mislabeled “local news” instead of “satire.” (Deepest apologies to anyone who was misled. The part about alligator infestations may have been exaggerated too.)
A tongue-in-cheek piece about “Headlight Restoration Montgomery” opening service centers in former Red Lobster buildings supposedly should have been labeled advertising. (It’s a weekend side hustle. The piece is labeled satire, and there’s even a disclosure at the end.)
They cited an article for using uncredited images. (They are our photos with AI images photoshopped into them.)
These nitpicks are meaningless distractions, so let’s be honest about what is really happening.
Kate Stewart is seething. In the past few weeks, we’ve published the most vicious, no-holds-barred satire we’ve ever done. We made ourselves blush, and that's not easy. We parodied her in the famous Hustler/Jerry Falwell “first time” ad. We plastered her face on the Sex Pistols’ God Save the Queen flag meme. We created mocking cartoon characters, blasted out biting music videos, and wrote brutal satirical pieces. Why? Because free speech includes the right to offend, and we wanted to double-down on exactly what’s been behind her wrongful denial from day one. Watching her spiral into combing through three-year-old Montgonion photo captions for excuses has been far less satisfying than pathetic.
Satire, commentary, anonymous sources, and composite images are protected tools of journalism. Courts have said over and over that government can’t deny press access based on content, can’t dictate editorial decisions, and can’t discriminate against viewpoints it dislikes. The Council’s lawyers know this. They’re just stuck defending a Council President letting ego and hubris override constitutional rights.
The Montgonion has reached the end of the line with the Council, and there is no appeal process. Kate's overweening pride has set up the county to lose yet another slam-dunk First Amendment lawsuit and blow even more taxpayer dollars on a plaintiff's lawyers.
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PHOTO CREDIT: We grabbed a shot of Kate off the County’s website and dropped it into the OpenArt AI Clown Filter. Then we snagged some free use coconut images, pasted on the text, and laid it all over a background of the Council chambers that we also cherry-picked from the County’s website. We aren’t required to tell you all that, but Kate thinks it’s important you know.
