Dear Senator Freeman,
I am writing today to both of your hats, as senator and as a lawyer.
Senator first: Thank you for requesting the AGO from AG Rokita. While I haven't found the text anywhere, the upshot was to confirm that Mayor Hogsett's gun ordinance is unlawful. As a Marion County republican and gun rights supporter, I appreciate this.
I am not your constituent. I live in house district 100, which I ran for back in 2010. Recently I wrote to my state rep, Mr. Johnson, and never heard back. I was writing to request that he request an AGO on the constitutionality of IC 3-9-3-2.5, the disclaimer statute that requires you to put "paid for by __" on your political signs.
The reason that the statute is 2.5 is that the previous statute, IC 3-9-3--2, was found unconstitutional in Stewart v Taylor, 953 F. Supp. 1047 (S.D. Ind. 1997), https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/953/1047/1746959/, after one of my signs was confiscated at a polling place.
The new statute is equally unconstitutional for the same reasons.
I suspect that AG Rokita might agree, especially in light of 303 Creative, 6/30/23, in which the Supreme Court once again held that compelled speech violates the First Amendment.
That would accomplish my objective without the time and expense of a lawsuit. Is this something you would be willing to do for me?
The request could be as simple as "Dear Attorney General Rokita, does IC 3-9-3-2.5 violate the federal or state constitutions, in light of 303 Creative and Price v Indiana?" You know the format better than I do since you have just been through it.
Thanks in advance for your time.
Now I'll switch hats. Let me give you a quick elevator pitch for a lawsuit, and if it interests you I'd be happy to meet and discuss further.
I have a multi-issue dispute with the Marion County Elections Board.
First there's the sign issue. They are threatening to enforce the disclaimer law against me again. Since I have beaten them on this once, I think there is some potential for non-trivial damages. I settled my case for $7,000. The Mulholland case, similar issues, was settled for $70,000.
Next, it looks like they didn't count my provisional vote in the fall election, which might or might not be actionable, and there's a public records dispute because since January they have been unwilling to tell me whether or not my vote was counted.
Next, in the Spring primary, the precinct official at the voting center at St Mark's church did not allow me to vote a provisional ballot, and threatened me with arrest when I attempted to document this on video. The Board had denied me press credentials because my reporting is online rather than in traditional media.
So as you can see there are several potential torts there.
OK, I guess that's about it. Thanks again.
Sincerely, Robbin Stewart.