July 24, 2008Bristol housing authority boots campaignersFor Sunday: The Bristol Virginia Redevelopment and Housing Authority, according to a Bristol Herald Courier story, ordered Barack Obama supporters to stop knocking on doors. The authority director first erroneously said campaigning on public housing property violated federal law. The he said it violates the authority's solicitation policy. If the authority has such a policy it needs to rethink it. Political speech isn't commercial speech. |
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July 24, 2008
Bristol housing authority boots campaigners
For Sunday: The Bristol Virginia Redevelopment and Housing Authority, according to a Bristol Herald Courier story, ordered Barack Obama supporters to stop knocking on doors. The authority director first erroneously said campaigning on public housing property violated federal law. The he said it violates the authority's solicitation policy. If the authority has such a policy it needs to rethink it. Political speech isn't commercial speech.
Comments
[July 24, 2008 10:50 AM]
HenryKnocking on door to promote something is solicitation, whether it be for a religion or a candidate.
[July 24, 2008 12:28 PM]
Ed S.I'm going to [tag] this for later. I've been involved in this a bit recently as head of our community neighborhood watch. According to the Fairfax County police, campaigners are one class of people excluded from the "no solicitation" policies. (others include non-profits)
I'm not sure if this follows local ordinance, is statewide, or otherwise.
Now of course on my property, I can tell anyone to get lost (exceptions apply again). For an HOA, it'd be a bit different, as I'm not the "owner" of the entire property. But a housing authority, being a government entity (assumption here), may have even further restrictions placed on them. I would not be surprised if the law did *not* allow them to place any furthr restrictions on solicitors other than what is in the state/local law.
[July 24, 2008 12:55 PM]
c. trejbalI'm not writing this editorial, so I haven't looked too closely at the Bristol situation, but there's a U.S. Supreme Court decision that might factor into the discussion. At least it certainly factors into Ed's wondering about state/local law.
In 2002, the court ruled in Watchtower Bible & Tract Society v. Village of Stratton (Ohio) that a town may not require people to register with the town before going door-to-door for noncommercial speech. The case focused on religious speech (which some might argue is just commercial anyway) but also covered political visits and handbills. Individual homeowners could still put up "no trespassing" or "no solicitors" signs to keep people away, but the government couldn't limit the free speech of individuals. (New York Times story summarizing the decision.)
I find this particularly interesting because I periodically come across towns that still have registration requirements on the books.
The moral of the story is that just because a town has a law regulating door-to-door visits doesn't mean it's enforceable.
[July 24, 2008 4:33 PM]
Ed S.Christian, you sparked a memory. Fairfax Co. does have a law requiring that solicitors obtain a license. It can be found in the county code (anyone interested feel free to look it up..pretty easy to find if you have any skill with your favorite search engine).
In effect, it's another tax/revenue generator for the county. I imagine it serves no other useful purpose.