The Washington Times has been scorned by Linda Cropp, and they’re not going to let her get away with it. Not quietly, anyway.

It appears that at a Council breakfast meeting yesterday morning, a Times reporter, who was the only journalist present, pulled out a tape recorder. Seeing the device, Chairman Cropp asked the Times to stop recording. After being refused, she calmy pronounced the meeting over.

The Times took the affront to the pages of their newspaper today, publishing a story that includes comments from Cropp’s chief mayoral rival, Adrian Fenty (“You did nothing wrong”) and includes the following gem:

When asked to explain the difference between recording and taking notes, [Cropp] said she did not “want to get into that.”

Not without a chalkboard, at least. There’s all kinds of charts and graphs involved.

While one might doubt the Times’ commitment to freedom of the press in all times and circumstances (search the paper for “New York Times” to see counter examples), it’s not hard to join the Times in their frustration over this incident. While the Council is trying to avoid press coverage of their breakfast meetings, where the “sometimes raucous discussions during the breakfasts could make them look foolish if reported,” the city at large is looking for leadership during a troubling, though not dire, time. Perhaps the Council Chairman could have taken the opportunity to reassure Washingtonians that the safety and well-being of District communities was a real and present concern for her and her fellow legislators. And perhaps later, the Council could have addressed the legal loopholes that allow troubled juveniles to slip through the cracks. Instead, we learn from the Times, “the council voted 7-6 to hold hearings on a revision of its open-meeting rules before voting them into law.”