Court throws out campaign statement law

AP ^ | 9/8/5

[SmithL]

TACOMA, Wash. - A state law that bars political candidates from deliberately making false statements about opponents violates their free speech right, an appeals court said.

The state Court of Appeals said the 1999 law doesn't require maligned candidates to prove their reputations were harmed, noting that in this case, the candidate who complained won by an overwhelming majority.

The judges also said the law allowed candidates to falsely puff up their own records, showing it wasn't narrowly tailored to promote honesty in elections.

The ruling Wednesday dismissed a $1,000 fine imposed by the Public Disclosure Commission on a Green Party candidate for state Senate seat in 2002. Democrat Tim Sheldon was re-elected.

In a campaign flier, candidate Marilou Rickert said Sheldon "voted to close a facility for the developmentally challenged." Sheldon's complaint to the commission asserted that he was the only legislator who voted to keep it open.

Sheldon said the ruling would result in more political dirty tricks.

Staff at the Public Disclosure Commission said a possible appeal would be considered at its next meeting on Sept. 15.

ACLU spokesman Doug Honig, whose organization brought the lawsuit on Rickert's behalf, said defamation laws could be used instead, and that broader laws to protect political candidates were not needed.

[hombre_sincero]

I hate it when the aclu is on the correct side.

But come to think about it - a broken clock is also RIGHT twice a day!

[rockrr]

The irony here is that, while the greenie (Rickert) is reliably a scum-queen, Sheldon, a democrap, is a reasonable guy (think Zell Miller) who has sided with Republicans on several issues.

[taxesareforever]

A state law that bars political candidates from deliberately making false statements about opponents violates their free speech right, an appeals court said.

The way I see it, it is now permissible to slander a political candidate in the guise of free speech. Someone tell me where I am wrong in this belief.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The way I see it, it is now permissible to slander a political candidate in the guise of free speech.

It's always been that way.

If you want to preserve your right to sue for slander, don't go into politics.

[taxesareforever]

But by this article there was a law on the books prohibiting slander. But the court found that free speech in politics is more important than truth.

[Maria S]

Then there's always that catchy little law printed in some obscure book...something like "Thou shalt not bear false witness."