[EL] "The Chicago fil-A"

[Steve Hoersting]

Here is a quick article on this subject in *National Review Online*:
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/312354/chicago-fil-stephen-m-hoersting

On Thu, Jul 26, 2012 at 9:05 AM, Steve Hoersting <hoersting at gmail.com>wrote:

> 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
>
>


-- 
Stephen M. Hoersting
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20120726/10409ec4/attachment.html>