Negative Election Fliers Launch Free Speech Battle in Mass.

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Negative campaign fliers targeting a Barnstable lawmaker last year have launched a free speech battle in Massachusetts that has reached the Supreme Court.

State Rep. Brian Mannal, D-Barnstable, won re-election in November despite mailers that accused him of “putting criminals and his own interest above our families” and wanting to “use our tax dollars to pay defense lawyers like himself to help convicted sex offenders.” He denied those claims.

The Jobs First Independent Expenditure Political Action Committee mailed the fliers. Mannal filed a criminal complaint against Melissa Lucas, the PAC’s treasurer. Mannal cited a state law that makes it illegal to publish “any false statement in relation to any candidate for nomination or election to public office, which is designed or tends to aid or to injure or defeat such candidate.”

The case, Commonwealth v. Melissa Lucas, is now before the state Supreme Court.

The New England First Amendment Coalition opposes the law.

“This law may not only chill political speech, but it could also expose publishers and journalists to criminal liability for simply reporting the news,” the coalition said in a statement. “We’re hopeful that the court will see how this law is in tension with some of the most basic First Amendment principles.”

Mannal has stood his ground against the PAC.

“They’re arguing for the right to lie,” Mannal told the Boston Globe. ”I’m arguing that the First Amendment does not provide them with that right.”