West Virginia case: It’s still lawful to pose a question to a government official

By Erik Wemple September 6 at 5:34 PM

No, Public News Service reporter Dan Heyman was not engaging in “willful disruption of governmental processes.”

Charges against Heyman, who pressed Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price with questions in the West Virginia Capitol building in May, have been dropped, according to a joint announcement from the Public News Service and the Kanawha County prosecuting attorney. “The State has determined, after a careful review of the facts, that Mr. Heyman’s conduct, while it may have been aggressive journalism, was not unlawful and did not violate the law with which he was charged, that is, willfully disrupting a State governmental process or meeting,” notes the joint statement. “Mr. Heyman certainly appreciates the State’s decision and affirmatively states that he was simply doing his job as a reporter by asking questions of a federal official as that official walked through the Capitol.”

The West Virginia incident is ancient history when it comes to affronts to U.S. journalists, coming long before President Trump’s full-on attacks against the media at a recent rally in Arizona and before the body-slamming of a Guardian journalist by Republican Greg Gianforte in the final moments of his run for Montana’s sole congressional seat, which he ultimately won.

Yet it should not be forgotten. To recap, Heyman was following Price and White House aide Kellyanne Conway as they made their way through the building. They’d come to hear about opioid addiction. In a scene that plays out in legislative corridors across the country, Heyman was walking along as he asked Price a question about health-care policy. Specifically, he wanted to know whether domestic violence would be considered a preexisting condition under the Republican health-care bill. “Do you think that’s right or not, secretary?” Heyman asked, according to a recording an audio recording Heyman provided to a reporter at The Post. “You refuse to answer? Tell me, ‘No comment.’”

Not long thereafter, Heyman, a reporter for three decades, was arrested.

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