[Speed Gibson,
Thursday January 17, 2008 at 9:40pm]
Don't Wait for the Verdict
In a preemptive move, the "281 CARE" group that helped defeat the District 281 referendum filed suit to have a law declared unconstitutional. The law ostensibly prohibits false speech regarding school referendums. It's a bad law and the Legislature would do well to repeal it this session.
The faulty assumption underlying this law is that public school districts are not political organizations and therefore the First Amendment does not protect those who would criticize them. The truth is, of course, is that public schools districts are 100 percent political entities, no different than a city or a county or a state agency. The notion that private citizens cannot criticize those who can tax them is chilling - and certainly unconstitutional, at least in the America I grew up in.
Look, if lying in the public sphere were to become illegal in this state, a certain Regent of the University of Minnesota would now be serving time in Stillwater. The larger question is, just what is truth?
The chairs of the "vote yes" committee had a letter published in the local Sun Post to expose three such false claims by 281 CARE. As I posted at the time, they were 0 for 3 trying to refute them and perhaps misspoke themselves. Do we want the courts trying to sort such a mess out? That's why we have a First Amendment, to preclude the government from deciding truth, especially regarding government and politics.
We all know who had this law written and why. Perhaps they will cut their losses and have it repealed before losing in court. Regardless, the various school districts themselves should step up and pledge never to bring an action using this unjust, unworkable law.
The faulty assumption underlying this law is that public school districts are not political organizations and therefore the First Amendment does not protect those who would criticize them. The truth is, of course, is that public schools districts are 100 percent political entities, no different than a city or a county or a state agency. The notion that private citizens cannot criticize those who can tax them is chilling - and certainly unconstitutional, at least in the America I grew up in.
Look, if lying in the public sphere were to become illegal in this state, a certain Regent of the University of Minnesota would now be serving time in Stillwater. The larger question is, just what is truth?
The chairs of the "vote yes" committee had a letter published in the local Sun Post to expose three such false claims by 281 CARE. As I posted at the time, they were 0 for 3 trying to refute them and perhaps misspoke themselves. Do we want the courts trying to sort such a mess out? That's why we have a First Amendment, to preclude the government from deciding truth, especially regarding government and politics.
We all know who had this law written and why. Perhaps they will cut their losses and have it repealed before losing in court. Regardless, the various school districts themselves should step up and pledge never to bring an action using this unjust, unworkable law.