KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM) — Michigan school and municipal officials will ask a federal judge on Thursday to slap a temporary injunction on the state to keep it from enforcing the new so-called “gag order” rule that prevents them from informing the public on election issues two months before the vote.
Kalamazoo City Attorney Clyde Robinson said he’s sent a “friend of the court” brief supporting their challenge, and a sample ballot the city clerk mailed out to voters before a recent election, to be used as an exhibit.
“It had five charter amendments,” Robinson said. “Under the law, we wouldn’t have been able to put that out if the current law had been in place.”
They argue the restriction is a blatant violation of their right to free speech.
They are hoping for a quick decision from the federal judge on the injunction. The plaintiffs all have funding issues on next month’s primary ballot and are currently subject to the law.
An altered “gag-order” bill has cleared a House committee. It would scrap the 60-day period and restrict local units to just providing “factual” and “strictly neutral” information in their taxpayer-funded communications.
There are concerns from Democrats that it still restricts free speech and say it will also be challenged if it becomes law.
– John McNeill
