‘Strange’: Woman rips government officials, now they sue her for ‘defamation’
Decatur County, Iowa, resident Rita Audlehelm noticed that a county official repeatedly failed to attend meetings in person.
So she wrote an op-ed about it. And it was published.
And got sued for defamation.
Now the Institute for Justice has dispatched a letter to county leaders suggesting they abandon their attempt to silence Audlehelm.
The “threat to sue Rita over her factual criticisms violates the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, which protects Americans’ ability to freely criticize the government without fear of retribution,” the legal team explained in a new report about the confrontation.
Audlehelm had raised the issue about an official’s “repeated failure” to be at meetings, prompting the county threat.
“Rita exemplifies what America stands for. She cares deeply about her community, she’s engaged, and she expresses her concerns thoughtfully through her speech,” said IJ attorney Brian Morris. “In response, the county has tried to silence Rita through baseless and frivolous threats. That’s the work of kings, not elected officials.”
Audlehelm explained, “Decatur County residents deserve to know what their elected officials are up to. That’s why I started attending the weekly board of supervisors meetings and publishing editorials about what happened. But rather that make these meetings available online, the county wants to silence my speech and keep the public in the dark.”
The IJ reported that for more than a year, Audlehelm has attended Decatur County board of supervisor meetings, and sometimes expresses her opinions about the meetings in editorial columns in the Leon Journal-Reporter and/or the Lamoni Chronicle.
“Rita’s opinions were always rooted in the truth, yet the County Board took issue with her views, prompting Decatur County’s Attorney Alan Wilson to send Rita a letter threatening to sue her for defamation if she didn’t retract her pieces and stop talking about ‘any elected official of Decatur County,'” the legal team’s report said.
“Democracies falter when citizens lose interest or cannot ask questions, seek answers, and make comment without fearing government reprisal against them,” said Randy Evans, executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council in an editorial about the fight.
“When an elected official pursues a taxpayer for her fair comment and criticism, it seems like a strange way to protect and defend the Constitution.”
The IJ suggested Iowa lawmakers need to pass a plan that would create a quick path to dismiss “frivolous lawsuits that are meant to silence people for actions protected by the First Amendment.”
The proposal referenced by IJ would “allow Iowans to file an expedited motion to dismiss a frivolous lawsuit filed against them. If a court agrees the case is meritless, it will dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning it can’t be refiled, and potentially award financial damages to the individual,” the legal team said.