MCLU attorney says state panel stifled candidate’s free speech

PORTLAND – An attorney representing a Republican primary candidate for the Legislature has filed papers in court claiming the candidate, Michael Mowles, was harmed by a state law that led to an ethics commission ruling against him.

The motion filed in Cumberland County Superior Court said Mowles of Cape Elizabeth became the subject of harmful scrutiny during his bid for the Republican nomination this spring after the State Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices publicly criticized his campaign literature.

The motion advancing a complaint, filed by Maine Civil Liberties Union Foundation cooperating attorney David Lourie, says the law that was applied by the commission in the case is unconstitutional because it restricts political speech.

“Our elections system is based upon a free marketplace of ideas,” said Lourie. “The decision about whether a politician’s speech is foolish, inappropriate or misleading rests with the voters, not the government.”

Mowles was endorsed by Republican U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins during his 2004 candidacy in the general election for the Maine House of Representatives. The two senators do not as a rule endorse candidates in party primaries.

Before this spring’s primary, Mowles circulated campaign leaflets that included quotations from the previous election’s senatorial endorsements, but each included an attribution “October 2004” printed after it, said Lourie.

Jennifer Duddy, Mowles’ opponent in the 2006 Republican primary for the House District 121 seat, filed a complaint with the ethics commission alleging that Mowles circulated a misleading leaflet. Duddy is Mowles’ former campaign manager, but she left after the two disagreed on strategy and policy and ran against him in the primary.

At a hearing, the commission determined that by reprinting the earlier endorsements Mowles was violating the statute that prohibits distributing “unauthorized” campaign materials, according to Lourie. The decision was widely reported and Mowles lost to Duddy in the primary.

Mowles was later fined $1 by the commission.

Shenna Bellows, executive director of the MCLU, said Mowles was making use of comments already in the public sphere.

“It’s up to the people, not his opponent and not the government, to decide whether or not that’s appropriate,” Bellows said.