News-Record.com

Last night, Lex Alexander tried to cover a meeting of the Pulpit Forum to discuss issues surrounding City Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small. I say "tried" because he and other members of the media were kicked out.

But he was given this statement from Bellamy-Small, dated March 4.

Some highlights:

• On the office spat: She defends her demand for the corner desk by criticizing the council member who originally asked for more office space (She doesn't specifically name Mike Barber, but he's the one who pushed for the new space). She also said this (unnamed) member doesn't use his city desk as much as she does. "If his request cost $40,000, surely I could have the right to identify which desk I wanted to work from without a new rule being put in place," she wrote.
• On the police stop: "I never made a complaint. I simply voiced my concerns to his superiors."
• On the bus pass give-away: She said she gave them to the homeless, to a cancer patient, to GTCC students and to "people I saw standing the rain or the hot sun waiting for the bus ... Maybe the question should be asked, who else on the council does the kinds of things I have been doing."