Raise the Hammer

On the bright side, Dreshel's reaction shows he cares what is printed at RTH which only gives it greater weight among his readers and increasing your profile is a good thing.

Regarding the letter, while I believe I read it, I do not remember most of it (and neither do many probably) so if it had been left alone it would have been fine. by answering it in such a manner, Dreschel gave it far more life than it would have had otherwise.

As for the legal threat, I strongly believe no legal action would have been taken, it is an editorial decision which I think Ryan made with due consideration.

However, I also think that Spectator Collumnists should not be immune to critisism and if the Spectator will not give sufficient voice to reactions from the words of their collunmists and reporters,other media are well within their rights to allow alternative views be voiced.

Talk of racism is a sensitive subject and I think attacking a writers words is better than attacking the person themselves as for the most part you cannot truly know how a person truly feels on sensitive matters as these unless they are voiced directly which they were not. I think Dreschel dismissed the other candidates because he likely has not heard much about them and therefore perhaps does not see them as a sufficient threat to an establisherd politian especially in Hamilton as we know incumbants are really hard to dislodge from office given relatively low interest in local politics by many hamiltonians.

What I would sugggest for an enterprising writer(s) for RTH is one of the following:

1. Interview Mr. Mahesh to allow his concerns to be have a voice (something the Spec perhaps should have done) while at the same time having the interviewer being able to skirt this libel issue.

2. Put a series of relevant questions to both Dreschel and Mahesh and publish their respective responses on the matter.

3. Do a series of questions to all current mayoral candidates and help people get to know all the candidates regardless of public profile or experience.

I do not think a threat should stifle discussion but if one's comments are "too controversial" there is still many ways to grow this dispute into a more equitable discussion which could help inform the peaople of Hamilton.