toledoblade.com --

Three local radio talk show hosts yesterday forced their way into a news conference called by Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner, widening an ongoing feud over coverage of the mayor's office.

The trio from WSPD-AM (1370) - afternoon talk show hosts Kevin Milliken and Brian Wilson and morning drive-time host Fred LeFebvre - claimed they were defending their First Amendment rights when they pushed their way through a door the mayor's public information officer, Brian Schwartz, tried to close. The physical confrontation ended with no arrests or injuries, although possibly with some damage to a door frame.

But it has provided new fuel for the ongoing and often acerbic dispute between Mr. Finkbeiner and the radio station.

Mr. Wilson, who is also WSPD's program director, later called Mr. Finkbeiner on his radio show "a bold-faced, unequivocal liar."

Mr. Finkbeiner called Mr. Milliken "a stand-up comedian."

The incident started when the three, along with five other representatives of the station, showed up for a 1:15 p.m. news conference yesterday called by the mayor to talk about his 2006 economic development accomplishments.

Mr. Milliken had been shut out of a news event the previous day at the University of Toledo by Mr. Schwartz, and WSPD officials said they wanted to make the point that they had a legal right to be present yesterday.

Mr. Schwartz told them only WSPD reporter Nik Rajkovic would be allowed into the mayor's conference room where the news event would be held.

While Mr. Rajkovic was squeezing through the door opening, Mr. Milliken, Mr. Wilson, and Mr. LeFebvre pushed against the door, forcing Mr. Schwartz back.

Mr. Schwartz said later he let the door open when he heard the sound of cracking wood.

The mayor's office has been feuding with Mr. Milliken, who hosts the "Eye on Toledo" public affairs show in the evenings and is a columnist for the weekly Toledo Free Press, over what the mayor claims are Mr. Milliken's unfair reports about the city and his administration.

Last year, WSPD banned the mayor from its programs, other than the news, after Mr. Finkbeiner accused Mr. LeFebvre of telling half-truths and lies.

Mr. Schwartz canceled yesterday's news conference because of "the boorishness and unprofessional behavior exhibited by WSPD." He said news reporters would be invited as individuals or in pairs to interview the mayor in his private office.

Two Toledo police officers had been called to the mayor's office on the 22nd floor of Government Center but were not at the scene of the door-shoving incident.

"We had to force our way in here. That man was forcibly trying to violate the First Amendment of the Constitution by managing the news," Mr. Wilson said. "This is the way dictators operate. They want to control access to the news."

Mr. Milliken on Tuesday was denied access to the mayor's news conference on the city's upcoming Martin Luther King, Jr., program.

The mayor's office said Mr. Milliken was not allowed to attend because he was not a news reporter, but an entertainer.

Mr. Milliken insisted he is a journalist who was trying to attend a public news conference held by a public official at a public institution.

The extent of journalists' access to public officials was the subject of a high-profile legal case in 2004 involving The Baltimore Sun and former Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich.

The governor ordered his administration to stop responding to calls or providing information other than that required under public records laws to two Sun staffers he accused of slanted and inaccurate reporting.

In February, 2005, a federal judge upheld the governor and, a year later, a federal appeals court also upheld the governor. The Sun opted not to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In that case, the reporters were not barred from the governor's news conferences. Mr. Finkbeiner did not bar a WSPD reporter from the event, but decided which representative from the radio station could attend.

Toledo lawyer Richard Kerger said the mayor can't keep anyone out of a public event.

"If you're a public official and you go to make a public statement, you can't restrict anybody from showing up. I can't fathom that even a person off the street with no press credentials couldn't be there," he said.

He called the incident "theatrical on both sides," but said WSPD personnel should not have had to force their way in. "That's not his [the mayor's] fiefdom," Mr. Kerger said.

Mr. Finkbeiner later said other governmental entities issue press credentials and regularly restrict news organizations to one representative.

"Anyone has the right to make a living any way they want. But when he's just a stand-up comedian with a sense of humor that's continuously denigrating to the city, I don't have to cooperate with that," Mr. Finkbeiner said.

Cassie Wilson, Mr. Wilson's wife and director of news operations at WSPD, said the three talk show hosts and production staff members showed up in yellow station jackets to make the point that the mayor doesn't have the right to pick and choose who attends news conferences.

"We wanted to send a message of solidarity that we are all credentialed reporters, and we had a right to be here and cover a story," she said. "I disagree with it being 'boorish.' Kevin has a right to be here. He's a reporter."

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