RadioOnFire.com - The ACLU of Maryland on Monday celebrated the settlement of a suit against Gov. Larry Hogan for blocking certain constituents from his Facebook page.
The $65,000 settlement was approved without discussion last week by the Board of Public Works. The state has 14 days from last Wednesday's meeting to make agreed changes to the governor's social media policy.
The suit was filed on behalf of four users blocked from Hogan's Facebook page. A number of blocks from Hogan's Facebook page coincided with criticism of President Donald Trump's travel ban, with a number of users urging Hogan to speak out against it. Hogan, a Republican who did not endorse Trump in 2016, speaks frequently about what he sees as Washington dysfunction, but rarely mentions the president by name.
Plaintiff Janice Lepore said she originally joined the Facebook page so she could learn about his positions on education issues, and started posting when she realized she didn't share Hogan's opinions on the subject.
"It never occurred to me that the governor, or his staff, would seek to prohibit me from engaging in conversations in a public forum, simply because my opinions differ from their positions," she said in a statement. "Nor did it ever occur to me that when these prohibitions became public, the governor and his staff would malign those of us who had been silenced. I hope this settlement will promote greater access and engagement for all Maryland citizens."
However, Hogan spokeswoman Shareese Churchill said the governor's office is also claiming victory.
“We are pleased that the ACLU has decided to drop this frivolous and politically motivated lawsuit and reach a settlement with the state," she said. "Ultimately, it was much better for Maryland taxpayers to resolve this, than to continue wasting everyone’s time and resources in court.”
The new policy, which was put in place more than a year ago, mandates that Hogan's office won't discriminate based on viewpoint, and allows all commentary. The settlement requires a second constituent message page as an additional forum with and among users and the governor about any governmental topic, even ones Hogan hasn't weighed in on. There's a process to contest bans from any Hogan account on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and YouTube.
The ACLU has challenged a number of elected officials across the country over social media practices in recent months.
"Across the country over the last year, the importance of social media to political discourse by elected officials and their constituents has been recognized with rulings from the Supreme Court and other courts, and we are excited to see Maryland in the forefront of protecting speech rights in this context with this model social media policy," Deborah Jeon, legal director for the ACLU of Maryland, said in a statement.
Source WBAL
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