Ross: Gov. Inslee’s bill to punish lying politicians may be asking for trouble
Jan 17, 2022, 5:34 AM | Updated: 9:09 am
(File photo by Karen Ducey/Getty Images)
(File photo by Karen Ducey/Getty Images)
among a growing number of reasonable people questioning Governor Inslee鈥檚 bill to punish lying politicians.
滨迟鈥檚 鈥� and it would allow criminal prosecution of any politician who makes false claims about the election process for the purpose of inciting or producing 鈥渋mminent lawless actions.鈥�
Upon conviction, the offending politician would be removed from office.
At first glance, it SEEMS to be a pretty narrow bill:
It only applies to discussions of the election process, and then only to claims about that process that the politician knows to be false, and then only if the politician makes those claims for the purpose of causing trouble, and then only if the trouble actually occurs.
It looks like the intent was for this to apply to a January 6th-type event.
But this bill doesn鈥檛 limit itself to that circumstance.
The reason the Jan. 6 riot was so dangerous is that it appeared to be an attempt by a sitting U.S. President to use physical force to prevent the peaceful transfer of power.
But the governor鈥檚 bill applies to any situation where a politician knowingly says something false about the election process for the purpose of riling people up 鈥� no matter the context.
So, consider this hypothetical: President Biden comes to Seattle, and delivers an angry speech arguing that some states are passing laws that amount to 鈥淛im Crow 2.0.鈥� And after that speech, suppose protesters block streets on our own Capitol Hill, and that once again the protest is infiltrated by people who end up looting and setting fires.
Again, just a hypothetical 鈥�
But if that happened, under the governor鈥檚 law, I鈥檒l bet there鈥檇 be calls to investigate: 1) whether Biden knew that the Republican election reforms bear no resemblance to Jim Crow laws; and 2) whether Biden deliberately made that false claim knowing there鈥檇 be trouble.
Now I emphasize that鈥檚 a hypothetical.
And yet, given that there are groups on the left that can get just as riled up by political speech as the right 鈥� I wouldn鈥檛 be surprised if some Republicans actually voted for this just to see what happens.
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