Poor, confused, bemused and befuddled Joe Viglione is STILL routinely denying he is a public figure. Why look at what he wrote today on his blog...
"Having a blog and speaking at the city council does not give one the power or access to the media that elected officials have, and that members of the press have, especially within a community."
Now let's ignore for a moment here that Joe just said he doesn't have access to the media that 'members of the press' have even though he REPEATEDLY CLAIMS to be a member of the very same press he speaks about (aside: See? Joe really IS an idiot, isn't he?); I think this reprinting (with permission, natch) of the following post from the Medford Patch back when it was actually good.
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Hi all,
Here's something that brought such an immediate smile to my face and laugh to my belly that I thought you'd all appreciate it as a good way to put a lilt to your step and keep your weekend a happy one.
Elsewhere on the Patch today I found this statement:
"In Medford I am a citizen, not a public figure. Just because a new book on the Rolling Stones has a glowing paragraph on me (just released) doesn't make me a public figure in Medford, as part of the definition of public figure or limited public figure means how much access to the press a person has."
Well Mr/Ms (I'm not telling who wrote it), while your name merely being mentioned in a book doesn't make you a public figure (else everyone in the telephone directory would be one),
1) your being a television producer,
2) being an actor (whether union or non-union) starring in over 800 of your own shows which play (by your own reckoning) in hundreds of thousands of homes (and continuously producing and presenting these show for more than thirty years)
3) being a journalist in the Patch, on blogs, on other news internet sights,
4) having your own news blog stating "Your First Source For Medford Massachusetts News"
5) announcing to one & all that your are a legitimate journalist, a legitimate news source, entitled to all the perks and responsibilities thereof
6) having interviewed (and still doing so on an on-going basis) hundreds of celebrities, many of them major ones,
7) putting these interviews on Tv,
8) transferring these interviews into print and publishing them on the internet and elsewhere,
9) working at various public access stations (as you have publicly stated you do),
10) speaking before the City Council (a PUBLIC forum) week after week after week (and not just commenting on what the council speaks on, but actually bringing forth dozens of your own "petitions to speak"),
11) putting together your own public access station (as you keep reminding people you are doing)
12) listing your many positions as a public figure as part of your many credentials you present to the City Council when you get up to speak
13) filing all those public records requests and then reporting the results to the public
14) being a rock star having your own band
15) holding the copyrights to 100 or so songs and collecting royalties for them
16) being the owner/operator of your own record label
17) being a booking agent for up-and-coming rock bands
18) being part organizer of a twice yearly (quarterly?) music/records expo/convention at an area hotel
19) having your own Ebay store (you do still have it, don't you?)
20) being an adviser to elected officials, often supplying them with the information they use to bring forth and vote on City Council agenda items (these documents you give them become public records)
21) helping to find homes in the public for stray cays, dogs and other animals
22) organizing people for public protests
23) having a DVD video you produced, directed and edited (and mention at City Council meetings) for sale on Amazon.com
IMHO does make you a public figure.
And this is just what I remember hearing & seeing about you off the top of my head. I'm sure you have many, many more accomplishments I've overlooked (please forgive me, I'm not trying to slight you or any of these accomplishments - I don't know if being a pro se "attorney" fits the requirement for a public figure). You mention that "part of the definition of public figure or limited public figure means how much access to the press a person has" How much access you have to the press? You are the press... many, many times over. Why you've done so very much more than Rush Limbaugh and he's a public figure! Don't be so modest, don't be so insecure, so shy. Don't sell yourself short, if anyone in Medford is a Public Figure (and we know many do reside here), it's you! You are most obviously the BIGGEST MOST FAMOUS PUBLIC FIGURE in all of Medford!
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To the above well stated treatice, our humble blog can only add...
Like Bozo The Clown says:
