[EL] Retribution is Real: "The Chicago fil-A"

[Steve Hoersting]

When cities and the administrative state are this powerful in economic
affairs we need to rethink the role of disclosure for non-corrupting
speech.

Economic boycotts and other tussles between and among citizens are, these
days, a side show to the real issue in compelled disclosure.  We now need
to ask ourselves: Is government's ability to stunt or destroy a business
the real meaning behind "holding speakers accountable?"  It is becoming
fairer every day to suppose so.

>From Today's *Sun Times*:

The anti-gay views openly espoused by the president of a fast food chain
specializing in chicken sandwiches have run afoul of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and
a local alderman, *who are determined to block Chick-fil-A from expanding
in Chicago.*

***
[One Chicago Alderman eager to join in the fil-A fray was asked whether it
is illegal to hold up a business's growth prospects for political reasons.]

“Absolutely not,” said former Ald. William Banks (36th), the longtime
chairman of the City Council’s Zoning Committee who presided over a massive
re-write of the city’s 1957 zoning ordinance.

“Any alderman can hold a development issue for virtually any purpose. But
if he’s doing it for the wrong reasons — if he’s citing a gay rights issue
— there’s nothing illegal about that.”

[Boston Mayor Thomas Menino was asked the same thing]

Moreno said he has an ace in his back pocket if he runs into legal trouble:
traffic and congestion issues caused by the [Boston] store that have been
the subject of behind-the-scenes negotiations for the last nine months
http://www.suntimes.com/news/13988905-418/emanuel-goes-after-chick-fil-a-for-boss-anti-gay-views.html

Economic regulatory power is too vast and capricious these days for Courts
to breezily approve schemes that compel disclosure of non-corrupting speech.

-- 
Stephen M. Hoersting
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