Lynchburg mayor shuts down critics, exerts ‘chilling effect on free speech’ amid controversy

The Republican mayor of Lynchburg, Va., has allegedly repeatedly attempted to silence her critics during her two-year term, according to residents, which has had a “chilling effect on free speech.”

Lynchburg Mayor Stephanie Reed, who has held office since January 2023, has called out critics during city council meetings and allegedly contacted employers of others who have been critical of her on social media. Reed is also up for reelection by the city council in January.

At an explosive city council meeting last month, Reed called for the press to be shut out and for officers to ensure everyone left the city council chambers.

On July 3, after a special city council meeting adjourned over a lack of quorum, the two city council members who called the meeting began holding a press conference. However, Reed quickly attempted to shut it down.

“[O]fficer to escort everyone outside of the chamber,” Reed said. “The chamber is closed, the meeting is over. It has been adjourned, there was no request for a press conference. It can be done outside of the chamber.”

“Press – turn the press off. Out, now,” she added.

Reed later said, "This is not a legal press conference. I need y'all out of the chamber now.”

Referring to the two city council members, Reed said, “You did not request this press conference. You did not reserve the chamber for a press conference. You did not go through the clerk of council that you're supposed to. You need to go outside the chamber right now."

She later attempted to bring police up to where the two council members were speaking, saying, “I need an officer, now.”

After she was told that the police do not work for her, but for the city manager, she called him to try to get the police officers to help her.

Following the press conference, Reed said, "I'm so sorry to our citizens. I don't know what to do about this division. It is embarrassing to our city. I apologize for all of our city employees that are embarrassed to even be affiliated with this. I'm sorry to our citizens that are embarrassed."

During a city council meeting the following week, Reed said that press conferences are only held in the chamber for emergencies. She added that the two city council members “who did have their right to express their First Amendment right – I was not attacking that, I was not attacking freedom of the press. I said it can happen outside. I was defending this room and the process in which it’s supposed to be used, and I will not apologize for that.”

The two city council members, Jeff Helgeson and Martin Misjuns, had called the special city council meeting on July 3 to discuss the legal representation in a lawsuit of a GOP primary election candidate for city council.

Peter Alexander, who ran as a Republican for Ward IV Lynchburg City Council in the June 18 primary election, filed a lawsuit against his opponent, Vice Mayor Chris Faraldi. Alexander initially alleged that 125 absentee ballots weren't counted in the primary.

The city attorney, Matthew Freedman, had sent an email to the city council, discussing defending Faraldi in the lawsuit. However, the email also mentioned that its contents were covered by attorney-client privilege and that disclosing them without majority approval from the city council could result in censure.

City Councilman Marty Misjuns told Just the News on Tuesday that “The behavior was shocking that she displayed in council chambers, and quite frankly, I’ve never seen anything like that in city government. also concerning to me how she treated the public.”

“It’s pretty clear that the city attorney and the mayor are trying to use attorney-client privilege to shield some deception about what they were attempting to do, getting the city involved where it’s not supposed to,” Misjuns said, adding that it appeared to be “cronyism, trying to use the city’s legal resources to represent a political candidate,” which “is not appropriate.”

He added that citizens have told him their concerns about how freedom of speech is being handled under Reed.

Misjuns said that Reed has called out members of the public during city council meetings for quietly disagreeing with her, explaining that it “has a very chilling effect on free speech in our city hall and council chamber when she does that.”

He later noted that “to try to use law enforcement to make the citizens leave, and the press leave, shut down our press conference, you know everyone’s got concerns about government being weaponized and lawfare these days, if we let it happen on the local level, you think it’s gonna get any better?”

City councilman Jeff Helgeson told Just the News on Thursday that Reed’s behavior at the city council meeting “was embarrassing – embarrassing for her, embarrassing for the city,” as she was “trying to shut down the press, and trying to tell duly-elected council members they can’t have the press conference.”

He explained that “normally after every meeting, the press always talks to us.”

“She thought she could call for officers to kick the press out and prevent us from speaking to the press – a violation of the right to the First Amendment,” the right to  “peaceably assemble,” and “freedom to speak, and for the press to be there, hear and record it,” Helgeson said.

He added that he has been on the city council “for 20 years,” and “all the time, there had been Democratic mayors, and we never had anything like this.”

Regarding the attorney-client privilege issue, Helgeson said that the city attorney during a city council meeting disclosed the contents of the email that he had previously said were covered by attorney-client privilege. However, the city council, which is the client, is able to release that information, so the city attorney releasing it was “very strange,” Helgeson said.

The city attorney told Just the News on Sunday, "In no way, shape, or form did I (or have I) ever break (broken) any privilege with my client(s). Further, it is false to state that I tried (or that anyone else with the City tried) to use the attorney-client privilege to prevent the public from learning about anything.

"The 'memo' you described was an attorney-client protected email sent by me to the City Council and other City staff/appointees. That email was improperly released by Councilmembers Helgeson and Misjuns to the media. Only the City Council (i.e. as a majority or more) could have authorized the release of the same outside of the City entity. Further, I never mentioned the contents of that email during any meeting on July 9, 2024. To say otherwise would be false."

Lynchburg residents beyond the city council members said they have also experienced run-ins with Reed for being critical of her.

Curt Deimer, who has lived in Lynchburg for 50 years, told Just the News on Wednesday that during a city council meeting he attended last year, he shook his head as Reed was talking, for which she called him out.

As she was saying during the April 2023 meeting that she was a taxpayer and didn’t “want to pay higher taxes,” Deimer shook his head. “Don’t you do that. I’ll have you taken out,” Reed said. “[B]ecause it’s argumentative – it’s argumentative,” she added.

In a city council meeting a week later, Reed justified her response to Deimer, saying that he “was actually shaking his head several times as I was speaking that night and mouthing words at me both times, and I consulted our city attorney about what I said to him, and I was actually within my rights because it was disruptive and it was harassing while I was speaking for him to be shaking his head and mouthing words at me.”

Deimer told Just the News that he “had police right behind me,” and “for a minute, I thought I was getting kicked out of here, but didn’t think I was doing anything wrong or being disruptive. I didn't think anyone saw what was going on or paid attention to it until she mentioned it.”

He said that he has “never seen anyone of any party on the city council that behaved that way.” Deimer noted that he has been in public service his whole life – including presidents, governors, and state Senate – and that “most people I worked for never, in a million years, would never think of behaving that way toward a citizen. She went straight from no elected experience to mayor of a city, so you might expect that when there's a lack of experience.”

Reed has also allegedly contacted employers of people who have been critical of her.

Jacob Landrun, son of Lynchburg GOP chair Veronica Bratton, told Just the News on Friday that Reed nearly cost him his job while he was working for Americans for Prosperity (AFP).

Last November, Landrun shared a Halloween costume meme of Reed on his private Facebook account that was critical of her. Landrun assumes someone showed Reed that he shared the meme, which led to her posting about it on her personal Facebook account, tagging AFP and criticizing the organization.

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Facebook meme of Lynchburg Mayor Stephanie Reed

Facebook

Landrun said, “I almost got fired from my job for that,” but that others fought on his behalf.

Jordan Bruckner, Reed’s former campaign manager/consultant, told Just the News on Friday that AFP confirmed to him that Reed tried to get Landrun fired, and he intervened on Landrun’s behalf to ensure that didn’t happen. He added that Reed had called AFP back and asked that Landrun not be fired or disciplined.

Greg Berry, one of the founding members of the Christian group City Elders in Lynchburg, told Just the News on Friday that his experience with Reed “has not been positive.” He explained that he has tried to get the mayor and city council to reconcile with each other since March 2023, but while Misjuns said he would, Reed did not.

After speaking with Just the News on the phone for 40 minutes on Wednesday, Reed declined to comment.

On Friday, Reed requested a city council meeting for Tuesday where the council will consider adopting a resolution “censuring and punishing Councilmembers Jeff Helgeson and Martin Misjuns for disorderly behavior and misconduct.”