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Independent Wisconsin legislative candidate to sue over censorship of controversial description

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Saturday, July 24, 2010

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Image: Jeff Dean.

An independent candidate for the Wisconsin state legislature is prevented from using the words "NOT the white man's bitch" to describe herself on the ballot. The decision came on Wednesday from the state's Government Accountability Board (GAB), which upheld a staff recommendation that deemed the wording "pejorative".

Ieshuh Griffin, a black woman running for a seat representing east Milwaukee and Glendale, argued her case before the panel of five retired judges on the GAB, which regulates elections in the state. "It's not racist, it's not a slur ... it's not pointed to a particular person. In my point of view, the average politician is a token," she said. When asked by a board member if she would be satisfied with the wording "not under the white man's influence", Griffin did not reply.

The GAB voted 3–2 to allow the wording, but one member was absent, and Griffin needed four members to vote in her favor. Gordon Myse, the GAB's chairman, supported Griffin's request. "Isn't she saying, 'I'm not under the white man's direction? I'm independent of that.' Isn't that what she's saying?" he asked.

State election laws allow independent candidates to have a five-word description of themselves instead of the political party placed after their names, as long as it is not "pejorative, profane, discriminatory or includes an obscene word or phrase." However, Griffin claimed that the wording is protected free speech. GAB staff insisted that since she was not prohibited from using the slogan on nomination papers, her Declaration of Candidacy form, and all other public documents such as campaign materials, her free speech concerns were "circumscribed". Griffin will still appear on the ballot, but without the desired description. She plans to appeal in federal court and wants to delay the election pending a decision.

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  This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
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