An Indiana judge has rejected a county prosecutor's request that he stop a political ad the prosecutor claimed was false and defamatory. The spot, for Republican candidate Greg Kauffman, is protected
speech and can remain on the air, ruled St. Joseph Superior Court Judge David Chapleau. Democrat Michael Dvorak filed a lawsuit last week asking for an injunction to halt the 30-second spot, alleging
that it falsely accuses him of violating the law by hiring his wife to work in his office--a move that Dvorak insists is not illegal because he does not supervise her.
But the validity of
the allegation is not the judge's main worry. "My concern is that political speech, even inaccurate, must be allowed unless it's so clear that it's a question of confusing the public," Chapleau says.
In the ad, Kauffman claims Dvorak "contradicts state law" because he hired his wife Kathleen to run the child-support division. But Dvorak says the ad crosses the line of protected speech. "Certainly
people have the right to free speech, but that free speech stops at the point they're making defamatory lies," he says.
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