The Florida Elections Commission attacks the First Amendment

[MonteSano]

When is a newspaper not a newspaper? When the Florida Elections Commission says so.

In legal arguments for why a little paper in Wakulla County violated election law, the state quotes Alice in Wonderland: "When I use a word ... it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less."

They've gone through the looking glass and into federal court, with the ACLU taking up for the tiny Wakulla Independent Reporter and its one-woman reporting/writing/photography/printing staff.

The state says the Reporter is masquerading as a newspaper, that it's the same as a political flier that a candidate or committee might send to your mailbox.

The ACLU says the state is violating the First Amendment guarantees of a free press and free speech. Says Howard Simon of the Florida ACLU: "The FEC should be concentrating its efforts on running a smooth and problem-free election instead of limiting the free speech of a journalist."


http://www.sptimes.com/2006/10/20/State/State_says_newspaper_.shtml

[sarcasmo]

1. NO more Constitution, thanks to the Decider.

Kick and Nom

[ellenfl]

2. k&r eom

[Wilms]

3. K & R n/t