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Two officials with Republican Mike Rothfeld's state Senate campaign are suing Stafford County officials over an ordinance that prohibits placing leaflets on vehicles.
Joshua Morris, treasurer of the Rothfeld for Senate campaign and president of the Mary Washington College Young Republicans, and Herbert Lux Jr., director of Rothfeld's grassroots activity, filed a federal suit in Alexandria last week charging that the county ordinance violates their First Amendment rights to free speech. The ordinance prohibits the placing of handbills on motor vehicles or any other private property without the owner's permission.
It also forbids handing out fliers on the sidewalk in a manner that interferes with pedestrians, and it bars people from entering private property to put handbills there.
The lawsuit names each county supervisor individually, as well as Sheriff Charles Jett, County Attorney Alda White, and Commonwealth's Attorney Daniel Chichester, whose brother, Sen. John Chichester, is Rothfeld's opponent in the GOP primary election on June 10.
The suit was filed by the law firm of Pat McSweeney, a former chairman of the state Republican Party.
According to the suit, Lux was at the Virginia Railway Express commuter parking lot in Falmouth on May 2, handing out Rothfeld campaign literature to pedestrians and putting fliers on vehicles.
A Stafford County sheriff's deputy called Rothfeld campaign officials to inform them that what Lux was doing was illegal. Campaign officials called Sheriff Jett five days later to say that they would stop distributing campaign literature but had "a constitutional problem with the ordinance."
The suit charges that the ordinance stands "in direct contradiction to the First Amendment and its stringent protection of political speech. Plaintiffs have been silenced by the operation of this law and fear its future enforcement as well."
Rothfeld said yesterday he supports his campaign workers in filing the suit against an ordinance that he thinks is unnecessarily, and illegally, restrictive. The county's ordinance even bans the time-honored campaign practice of handing out political fliers door-to-door.
Rothfeld said he chose to take on the ordinance not because of politics but because of an interest in the First Amendment that goes deeper than this campaign.
"The First Amendment is very precious to our freedom, and that means we have to be able to communicate with our neighbors about political things, and the government cannot step in and say, 'No you may not,'" he said. "The ability to speak doesn't mean anything if you're not able to tell anybody."
He said the lawyers in the case are donating their services and think it has a good chance. The first step would be to get a temporary restraining order on the ordinance.
"They seem exceedingly confident that this is going to be struck down fairly promptly," Rothfeld said.
County Attorney White was on vacation last week and just saw the lawsuit yesterday. She could not comment on it, in part because she was trying to find an attorney for herself and for the Board of Supervisors members.
Jett also declined comment, although he did say his office does get frequent complaints from drivers who find leaflets on their vehicles.
Supervisor Gary Pash said he could not comment on the lawsuit; other county supervisors could not be reached.
Rothfeld's opponent, Sen. John Chichester, derided the suit as a campaign tactic.
"Attempting to understand my opponent is a significant undertaking. To say the least, this is quite bizarre. But it could very easily be a publicity stunt, and I suspect it is, of a desperate candidate," Chichester said. "Or, one could take it that he wants to legalize littering. Clearly his tax money will be used, as will mine, to defend any suit he brings."
Rothfeld said he just wants to protect free speech.
"I can afford the mail and I can afford phones and I can afford radio, but next year it's going to be some guy without tens of thousands of dollars who opposes the supervisors' next tax increase; or the lady who doesn't want a cell tower next to her home," Rothfeld said. "They don't have access to mailing lists and $10,000 mail budgets, and what are they supposed to do, stand on the street corner and shout?"