Associated Press
SEATTLE — If election candidates can extol their own virtues in the city voters guide, they must also be allowed to criticize their opponents, a federal judge has ruled.
U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik ruled Wednesday that it is unconstitutional to bar candidates from even mentioning their opponents in the 400-word statements they submit for publication in the pamphlet, which is mailed to each residence in the city.
His decision was a victory for the American Civil Liberties Union and Grant Cogswell, who is running for the city council against incumbent Richard McIver. Elections for the nine-member panel are nonpartisan.
"Allowing the incumbent to talk about his record and achievements while denying (Cogswell) the opportunity to talk about those same topics provides the public with only one side of a debatable subject and deprives plaintiff of a fair opportunity to present himself and his candidacy to the voters," Lasnik wrote.
Cogswell, who has attacked McIver’s record as head of the council’s Transportation Committee, said the ruling "gives us the chance to do what we’re normally supposed to be able to do in a democracy, which is to speak our minds freely."
City lawyers argued that the guide was intended to provide information about candidates rather than be a forum for campaign debates, adding that striking down the ordinance would result in "a loss of civility" in campaigns and a "free-for-all" of unanswerable attacks.
"One can hardly imagine a more genteel political environment than Seattle," Lasnik said Monday in court. "What is this free-for-all you’re worried about?"
The city’s ethics and elections director, Carol Van Noy, said she didn’t know whether the ruling would be appealed, but it will be in effect for the general election Nov. 6 — and it came just in time.
Cogswell came in second to McIver in a four-way primary race Tuesday, assuring him a place on the election ballot, and the deadline for submitting the 400-word candidate statements is Thursday.
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