Langley’s mayor thinks a newspaper reporter should pay to speak with the city attorney.

Lawyers, judges, elected and other officials reacted to the notion this week with shock and amazement. Some burst out laughing.

We reacted the same way at first, but we’re also chilled by the apparent act of retaliation. At a time when press freedoms are under attack in this country, such ignorance displayed by an elected official is alarming.

In a truly unprecedented move, Langley Mayor Tim Callison billed The South Record — sister paper to the Whidbey News-Times — for the time a reporter spent interviewing a taxpayer-funded employee, Langley’s contracted city attorney.

We are respectfully declining to pay.

We suggest the mayor instead send the bill to 700 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. That’s the address of the National Archives Building, home to the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights.

The first of those amendments memorializes a sacred truth, one that has come to define this country as one with a free press.

Callison’s petty attempt to charge the newspaper for asking questions of city staff reveals how very little he values the public’s right to know what it’s elected officials are doing with taxpayer dollars.

The city attorney is able to bill for a conversation with the media because it’s considered part of his job. That’s right, speaking with a reporter — or anyone for that matter — about Langley city business is part of his job.

When a city employee answers questions from the media and public, it makes absolutely no difference whether he or she is receiving a salary or are paid by the minute.

The public has every right to question its elected leaders and talk with city employees who are funded by the taxpayers to work on their behalf.

Mayor Callison’s actions are an attempt to bully the local newspaper and curb its ability to inform the public.

To Mr. Callison, we offer these three words: It won’t work.