Tuesday 30 June 2009

Sarah Palin and that pesky Constitution...


A comment on the thread " Sarah Palin's new mouthpiece" had this information:

**** NEWS ALERT ****

Please pass this on to the folk(s) who had their ethics complaint dismissed due to announcing their intent to file…


Federal judge rules state Ethics Commission ban on discussing complaints against public officials violates free speech
by Pete Shellem, Of The Patriot-News Monday June 29, 2009, 4:47 PM

A federal judge has ruled that the state Ethics Act’s ban on publicizing filings against state officials is likely unconstitutional and has granted a temporary injunction to a local activist who was fined for violating it.

District Judge Christopher C. Conner granted the injunction to Middle Paxton Township activist Gene Stilp, who was charged with violating the act after he announced he filed a complaint against former House Majority Leader William DeWeese based upon a newspaper article that accused DeWeese of spending $290,000 in tax money on political polls.

Within a day, the State Ethics Commission ruled there was not enough evidence in Stilp’s complaint to conduct an investigation and instead charged Stilp with violating the act by publicizing the filing of his complaint. On Oct. 16, Stilp entered into an agreement with the commission in which he admitted violating the act and agreed to pay a $500 fine. Stilp then filed suit in federal court to enjoin the commission from enforcing that provision of the act, saying it was a violation of his right to free speech.

Well, Rep Bob Lynn can put his proposed bill in his pipe and smoke it!

(H/T to Sauerkraut)
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8 comments:

midnightcajun said...

Republicans are all for free speech and against political correctness, as long as they're the ones doing the talking.

OT, have you seen that the Vanity Fair article is up? No Babygate expose, but it rips Sarah a new one. And it's illustrated by Sarah making our favorite face--standing next to Cindy McCain! I would love to know what prompted that expression.

ProChoiceGrandma said...

Page 2 of VF article:
“After she was picked, the campaign belatedly sent a dozen lawyers and researchers, led by a veteran Bush aide, Taylor Griffin, to Alaska, in a desperate race against the national reporters descending on the state.”
Mr. Purdum, I believe you meant Timothy Griffin, not Taylor Griffin.
http://shannynmoore.wordpress.com/2009/03/16/karl-rove-sarah-palin-tim-griffin-walk-into-a-bar/#comment-2141

Didn’t do much homework?

Vaughn said...

McCain's campaign has dispatched another team to Alaska to respond more rapidly to such reports. It is headed by Taylor Griffin, who had worked for Bush's 2004 campaign. Another former Bush campaign aide, Tracey Schmitt, is now Palin's traveling press secretary.

Jackie said...

Did you send a copy to Bob Lynn?

basheert said...

Just finished the VF article. It was good but really most of us already knew so much because of the efforts of these Alaska bloggers.

It wasn't a positive article - it did specifically mention her method of hiring her small group of little friends for jobs they aren't qualified to do. Also mentioned her popularity slipping. Not enough on her bringing TAHD into Exec Office and Alaska political decisions (why DO Alaskans allow that anyway????)

Thanks to all the great bloggers we have access to, it was more of a rehash with no new headlines.

It had the photo with her and Cindy McCain, mentioned the "no love lost" between them but no actual discussion of Cindy's "lack of enthusiasm" about SP. I don't like Cindy McMealticket but she has more class in her little finger than SP has in her entire body! Cindy let everyone know by her mannerisms that she wanted SP to disappear. I would have loved to hear Johnny And CindyLu's private talks about "that one".

Good article but for us, not much new or revealing.

GinaM said...

Who knows why GINO was making the Poo-Poo face. You can tell Cindy could not stand that woman.

Live Free or Die said...

Republicans can be so shortsighted.

Making it difficult to file Ethics Complaints will come back to bite them in the ass when someone they don't like - even a Democrat! - may be in office.

America should be the Land of the Free. Always. Why do Rebulicans not want to protect The Public from Big Government and renegade elected officials?

Helen said...

That pic gives me the creepies! just right for the post.