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Ban lying in politics? Don't do it!
© St. Petersburg Times, California seems to be the birthplace of some good political initiatives, like legalizing marijuana, and some bad ones, like tax caps that strangle the ability to provide social services. But this time the crazies out there are going too far. This time they've come up with an idea that is just . . . well . . . it's just downright un-American, and somebody has to call attention to it. San Francisco Supervisor Jake McGoldrick (supervisors are like city council members in Florida, although they have more power, get more money and dress better) has proposed legislation that, according to a San Francisco Chronicle story, has a chance of passing. He wants wants to outlaw lying during political campaigns. I know, I know. Shocking, isn't it. If San Francisco weirdos want to go around telling the truth in political campaigns, it really isn't our concern, but sometimes the strangeness has a way of spreading, and getting worse as it does. McGoldrick wants to make it illegal to spread false statements about candidates or ballot measures within 90 days of an election. "Deliberate misstatements of fact poison the water for voters and are difficult, if not impossible, to recover from near the end of a campaign," McGoldrick told the Chronicle. As my younger friends would say, "Duh!" Folks, Florida is already struggling with the decades-old Government In The Sunshine law which tries, and occasionally succeeds, to keep the public's business in the public eye. While it hasn't always been successful, the law is sufficiently complex to be difficult for stupid people to violate and has therefore improved the quality of people elected and hired by government just about everywhere except, possibly, Hillsborough County. But it has also gummed up the works of government. Just having to adjourn a meeting in order to take a bribe can be costly in staff hours and transportation costs. There was a time when the Pasco County Commission used to vote on prearranged motions simply by rapping on the table. Now each commissioner has to actually cast a public vote and it is actually recorded. Things have not been the same since. Add to that a truth-in-campaigning law and a lot of bad things will happen. First, we would have to throw all of the liars out of state and local government, leading to massive retraining costs and much higher unemployment figures. Then only truthful people could run for the vacancies, which would mean a large number of seats would go unfilled, except for those willing to pay the $5,000 fine that will become the cost of lying if the San Francisco ordinance passes. The ordinance in San Francisco would not apply to public speech or conversation, only to recorded or printed campaign statements, meaning candidates would have to get out and talk to the people, another major upset for Floridians. Florida would be exempt from one part of the law, as regards ballot items like referendums. No ballot item in Florida has ever approached even minimal comprehensibility; therefore, it would be extremely difficult for any court to determine whether any statement about them is true or false. Floridians traditionally vote in favor of things like saving the snail darter and then realize they have authorized some weird new tax requiring the sacrifice of their first-born children in return for a license to clean their rain gutters. And, please, let's not even think of what might happen if the truth-in-campaigning thing went federal. Presidential debates would be an hour of silence (not a bad idea in the middle of a presidential campaign) and all of the candidates' massive campaign treasuries would go toward paying fines. I know I may be overreacting, but I've seen how these truth-in-government types operate. You let them get away with outlawing governmental lying today, and, trust me, the next thing they will be trying to do is outlaw governmental stupidity. And then where will we be?
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
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Times columns today Jan Glidewell From the Times North Suncoast desks |
