Politicians Sue Mom into Silence over Newspaper Ads

In Colorado, disgruntled politicians can have their critics hauled into court, with no right to a public defender.

In September 2015, Tammy Holland of Strasburg, Colorado, took out two ads in her local newspaper in which she alerted the public to an upcoming school-board election, and urged voters to familiarize themselves with all of the candidates, including the six candidates who would be challenging incumbent school-board members. For doing so, Tammy found herself sued—not once, but twice—by school-board officials.

http://ij.org/press-release/politicians-sue-colorado-mom-into-silence-over-newspaper-ads/

This was possible because Colorado has outsourced enforcement of its campaign-finance laws to the public at large—under Colorado law, any person can file a private lawsuit and haul you into court merely by alleging that you have violated the state’s campaign-finance laws. With no oversight by any government official to screen out frivolous or legally insufficient complaints, the system is rife with abuse, with disgruntled politicians or their allies routinely filing complaints to silence or intimidate those who would dare to criticize them.
On January 21, 2016, Tammy joined with the Institute for Justice to fight back in federal court. Her lawsuit seeks to ensure that all Coloradans can speak freely about the political issues that matter to them, without the fear of being sued merely for exercising their First Amendment rights.
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