A federal court ruling has politicians arguing over the issue of campaign lies. Some believe the false statements law threatens the freedom of speech.
While others think it gives politicians too much room to bend the truth. As Statehouse correspondent Andy Chow reports -- one lawmaker went to extreme lengths to prove his point.
Representative Bob Hagan doesn’t shy away from controversy. The Democrat from Youngstown is known to make big splashy remarks ... especially on social media like Facebook and Twitter
But a recent post is a doozy—and—a straight up lie. And he wants you to know he’s lying.
Hagan: “It would seem to me that it was so outrageous—so absurd—that people would catch on but in some cases they don’t.”
We’ll get to what he said soon but first you need to know the background.
Hagan is protesting a federal court ruling that deems Ohio’s false statement laws unconstitutional. The representative says the ruling gives him and all politicians permission to lie in campaign materials.
Which brings us back to his Facebook post. Hagan wrote out a story accusing Republican Gov. John Kasich of asking for a “pound of pot” because he had to “come down from a coke high.”
Hagan claims he used these extreme allegations to make his point.
Hagan: “This is one of the most dangerous rulings in politics in a long time. I fear that more and more people will continue to lie about their opponent and their candidacy and get away with it.
Kasich’s spokesperson Rob Nichols called the Facebook post “pathetic” and left it at that. However, Political Science Lecturer Christopher Kelley of Miami University says there are still other laws in place that can stop politicians from lying.
Kelley: “Keep in mind that we do have a longstanding system of libel and slander when a person makes an accusation or makes a statement that they know is blatantly a lie that damages the reputation of another person—you know the courts are open to hear those sorts of claims.”
The argument made in court against the false statements law was that the truth of a political statement should be judged by voters, not by the government—in this case, the Ohio Elections Commission, which has jurisdiction over political materials. Kelley agrees that the process encroaches into First Amendment territory.
Kelley: “You open a very dangerous door in allowing the government to go down the road then begin attacking things that it simply doesn’t like and claiming that those things are false and thereby punishable.”
In his ruling, Judge Timothy Black sided with this argument and referenced several rulings which stated that the best way to combat a lie is with the truth.
Kelley adds that there’s another checks and balances process: elections.
Kelley: “That if somebody is caught lying in an ad—hopefully voters are made aware of it mostly through media organizations that do fact checking and ultimately I think that that’s where groups who oppose the law hope where it will be enforced is the ballot box—rather than in a regulatory commission or the court.”
Hagan agrees with the importance of informed voters. But he still supports a system that can determine the truth in a timely manner.
Hagan: “You need to have somebody outside that realm, someone that can check and balance out what the conversations are all about—these political claims are all about and tell be rather quickly.”
The state has filed a notice of appeal with the 6th circuit court. However, Attorney General Mike DeWine, who will defend the false statements law in court, has said he’s also concerned it may violate with the First Amendment.
