Judge blocks ‘gag order’ on officials for upcoming elections

A federal judge today blocked the newly created ‘gag order’ on elected officials as dozens of local ballot proposals will appear on the state’s March 8 presidential primary election ballot.

U.S. District Judge John Corbett O'Meara, based in Ann Arbor, acknowledged that Gov. Rick Snyder, when signing the legislation into law last month, said the new provisions for a 60-day, pre-election limitation on election information needed some revisions. But in issuing an injunction the judge said remedies will not likely be put into place by the Legislature before the March 8 voting.

With those elections approaching, local leaders sued, claiming the 60-day prohibition on widespread dissemination of ballot proposal information violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

"This matter is best resolved through the legislative process, with due deliberation and debate. Given the fast approaching March 8, 2016, elections, however, time is of the essence and the court must act," O’Meara wrote.

“Public officials deserve clarity on this issue so that they may serve the public in the normal course without fear of arbitrary sanction or prosecution …This (law) appears absurd; it is difficult to imagine that regulators would attempt to sanction or prosecute a public official for merely mentioning a ballot question in a city newsletter, explaining the difference between a millage renewal and millage increase, or explaining what `non-homestead’ means, for example.”

The new law, Public Act 269, bans local officials or employees of local governments and school districts from using public resources to communicate information about a ballot measure through radio, television, mass mailing or prerecorded telephone messages in the final two months of an election.

State law already prohibits governmental officials from using tax dollars to advocate for or against a proposal. The Michigan Department of State over a 3-year period found only five valid complaints where local entities violated the state law forbidding them from advocating for a ballot issue.

The public officials listed as plaintiffs are: Roseville Mayor Robert Taylor; Algonac City Manager Douglas R. Alexander; Dowagiac Mayor Donald Lyons; Tuscola County Commissioner Matthew Bierlein; New Haven Community Schools Superintendent Todd R. Robinson; Riverview Community Schools School Board President Gary O’Brien and Superintendent Russell Pickell; Tecumseh School Board President Kimberly Amstutz-Wild and Superintendent Gary O’Brien; Waterford School District School Board President Robert Seeterlin and Superintendent Keith Wunderlich; Goodrich Area Schools Superintendent Michelle Imbrunone; Clinton Community Schools Superintendent David P. Pray; Byron Area Schools School Board President Amy Lawrence and Superintendent Patricia Murphy-Alderman; Warren Consolidated School District Superintendent Robert D. Livernois; Lansing School District Superintendent Yvonne Caamal Canul; and Stephen Purchase, a private citizen.

Secretary of State Ruth Johnson and the State of Michigan are listed as defendants.