Two Washington State talk hosts are sued under the campaign finance laws for talking about defeating a nearly 10 cent a gallon tax hike. Cities and San Juan County sued saying that the talk show hosts, Kirby Wilbur and John Carlson of KVI, had given in kind donations to the No on 912 campaign by talking about it.

The case, as you heard on the program, was decided last week by the Washington State Supreme Court, which saw this for what it was: an out and out attack on free speech. The case has attracted some national media among them John Fund of the Wall Street Journal, who, in the Opinion Journal section wrote:

Washington’s largely liberal Supreme Court agreed that political free speech was jeopardized by the attempt to regulate media outlets under campaign finance laws. Writing in concurrence, Justice Jim Johnson noted, “Today we are confronted with an example of abusive prosecution by several local governments. . . . This litigation was actually for the purpose of restricting or silencing political opponents.” The court took the unusual step of sending the case back to the trial court to determine the nature of any constitutional violations the prosecutors who brought the case committed and whether the Initiative 912 supporters have a right to collect attorneys’ fee from the local governments who sued them.

The outrageousness of this lawsuit hasn’t stopped our liberal friends from trying to impose similar restrictions on Oregon media; among their targets are talk hosts and bloggers. While the last attempt to impose these restrictions in the holy name of campaign finance reform failed, it’s important to note that this will not be the last attempt to shut up the Lars’ and Victoria Tafts of the state. That was the point of it, after all. And, can you imagine a gleeful Bill Bradbury and Hardy Myers being reticent about imposing these laws on us? Me, neither.