Massachusetts seeks to uphold ban on lying in political ads

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

US | Thu May 7, 2015 12:37pm EDT

Massachusetts seeks to uphold ban on lying in political ads

BOSTON | BY ELIZABETH BARBER

(Reuters) - The state of Massachusetts on Thursday defended a 1946 law making it illegal to tell lies about candidates for office, after a woman facing possible jail time for a mailer about a Cape Cod candidate challenged the measure's constitutionality.

The legal fight dates back to 2014 when a Democratic state representative filed a criminal complaint against a woman who worked for a Republican-leaning super political action committee (PAC), charging that the PAC lied about him in a campaign brochure.

The state law makes it illegal to knowingly make "any false statement" against a candidate for public office that seeks to influence the election's outcome.

A lawyer for the woman, Melissa Lucas, argued in the state's top court that the law is too vague and broad, and violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which protects free speech.

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In 2014, State Representative Brian Mannal invoked the law to file two criminal complaints against Lucas, for contending in campaign brochures that Mannal would financially benefit from his proposed legislation to give sex offenders’ better access to lawyers.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/07/us-massachusetts-politics-idUSKBN0NS1XD20150507

[meow2u3]

1. Another repunk suing for the license to slander Democrats

In fact, I think this law should go nationwide. Repunks have been getting away with hiding lie after lie after smear campaign behind the pretext of "opinion."

This just in: if your "opinion" is based on a blatant lie, it's not an opinion--it's a lie and should be treated as such.