THE SCENE AT the April 4 Building Inspection Commission meeting was ugly. Members of the Residential Builders Association personally insulted Amy Lee, Mayor Gavin Newsom's choice to head the department, in language that was by any standard sexist, abusive, and inappropriate. Sup. Aaron Peskin's resolution denouncing the comments was perfectly on target, and the powerful RBA should be roundly condemned for the actions of some of its members.

But as Matthew Hirsch reports on page 14, the official response from the Mayor's Office went way too far: the tape of the meeting has been pulled from the city's Web site, a move that borders on official censorship.

Yanking the offending video may be legal – the City Attorney's Office approved the action, and it's still possible to get a tape of the meeting from the Department of Telecommunications. But it sets a terrible precedent: If the mayor can keep a video of a public meeting off the city's Web site because he objects to the content, the city's on a very slippery slope toward serious First Amendment and public records issues. Who decides what's inappropriate speech? Where do the censors draw the line? At what point does the record of a public proceeding get expunged because of political sensibilities?

Besides, isn't there a certain amount of value in making the video as public as possible – thus encouraging the whole world to see what phenomenal jerks the RBA members can be?

The Sunshine Ordinance Task Force should hold hearings on the issue and come up with a proposal for new legislation that would bar any city official from removing any public record from any city communications system unless there's an immediate issue of public safety or a court order demanding it.