Another free speech incident occurred in 2005. Wally Bowen, who hosts MAIN, an internet service provider with a very Democrat-leaning home page, as well as WPVM, a radio station whose call letters stand for “Progressive Voice of the Mountains,†asked city council, right before election time, if he could have some free or discounted space on the city’s communications tower
The local alternative press published a letter to the editor submitted by activist Kathy Rhodarmer with the hysterical title, “Would That Be Free Speech – or Subsidized?†City Council Members Holly Jones and Brownie Newman pretended not to understand why the two Conservatives on council, who were running for re-election, did not want to spend the tax dollars forcefully collected from their supporters on propaganda intended to knock them out of office. Newman, incidentally, has supported lobbying the general assembly to allow tax dollars to be used for campaign contributions in Asheville.
