By Juan Montoya
Remember when the Brownsville Police Department sent officers to the city's Main Library on Central Boulevard and they ordered the campaign workers to move across the street even though they were well past the 100-foot zone where electioneering is prohibited by state law?
Well, it seems like the boys in blue were well outside their official right to enforce that dictum emanating from the cops shop on Jackson Street.
A regular contributor to El Rrun-Rrun alerted us to a bill passed in the state legislature that prohibits "an entity that owns or controls a public building being used as a polling place from prohibiting electioneering on the premises outside the 100-foot zone..."
That bill, HB 259, was passed in June of 2013. According to the press release of its author, Rep Ron Simmons (R) of Lewisville, its intent was to assure that individuals' right to political speech was protected.
"This change in law protects First Amendment rights of individuals that protects political speech. Specifically, HB 259 clarifies that electioneering (political speech) must be allowed at polling places. The bill prohibits an entity that owns or controls a public building being used as a polling place from prohibiting electioneering on the premises outside of the 100-foot zone where electioneering is prohibited by state law.
"This change protects First Amendment rights by assuring that people are able to express their political views without fear of prosecution or persecution. No longer will people across the state be ticketed or arrested for acts such as holding campaign signs at polling locations.
"Language was specifically included in the bill to authorize reasonable time, place and manner restrictions on electioneering conducted outside of the 100-foot marker, so long as electioneering is not prohibited altogether. HB 259 protects some of our nation’s most fundamental rights: the freedom of speech and the right to vote.”
"From what I can tell, it seems that now an entity in control of the public polling location facility may not prohibit electioneering outside the 100 ft perimeter established by state law," she said. "Apparently this was being done, for example when the BPD moved the electioneering parties from the library side of Central Blvd. to the other side of the street a few times in the recent past. They can't do that anymore."
Will the BPD honchos now tell the cops on the street not to harass the campaign workers once early voting starts in October? We'll be watching.
8 comments:
A lot of the people who were campaiging in that race. They were harassed and told that they could not be holding their political signs. Even a police officer told them that the city attorney Mark S. Said they could not be holding polite signs on the side walk of the public library.. But yet the portillo camp was able to be holding their sign on that side of the street.. That race was stollen.. Mr. Martin Sarkis should of won on that race......
Mark SOSSI strikes again!
This is the kind of information that our state reps and state party chairs should share with the locals in a timely manner. Oh yeah...we've got the three amigos, Lucio, Oliveira, & Hinojosa, in charge at the state level. Why would they want a knowledgable electorate?
The Sossi goons made sure that Sarkis would lose the campaign. Oops ! Some on the City Commission were on this too. Sossi, the Saugege, is the biggest crook in the city government.
Since when did BPD cops learn the law? Everytime someone who knows the law throws it at them face to face they get this intimidated retard look on their face and scurry off back to their uneducated holes at HQ. Start learning the law peeps!
(Even a police officer told them that the city attorney Mark S. Said they could not be holding polite)
Drunk, or just completely illiterate? Little of both, I'll bet.
Dags.
Some of these cops can't read Spanish; much less English !
Be aware of some Bro cops . The will beat you up when stopped for a defective bulb.
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