The Maine Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit defending the creator of “The Cutler Files” website.
The suit, on behalf of Dennis Bailey, challenges the constitutionality of Maine election laws and appeals a $200 fine against Bailey by the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices.
“The Cutler Files” criticized gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler during the campaign last year and claimed to be produced by anonymous researchers, writers and journalists. It was created by Bailey, a political consultant, and Thom Rhoads, husband of former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rosa Scarcelli. Bailey worked for Scarcelli before the website was created.
The suit challenges the constitutionality of two Maine restrictions on political speech: one that requires political speakers to disclose their identity, and another that excludes blogs and other Internet speech from the “news story” exemption to political speech regulations. The $200 fine violates Bailey’s right to free speech, according to the MCLU.
“Political speech is the heart of the First Amendment,” MCLU Legal Director Zachary Heiden said in a news release.
Heiden said the country has a long tradition of protecting anonymous political speech, and that the information could have been published in a newspaper without raising the same legal issues.
The suit, filed in Cumberland County Superior Court, asks the court to vacate the commission’s decision, revoke the fine and order the commission not to enforce these particular laws in this way again. The commission has time to decide how it will respond.
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