Summary | Press Release | Sign the Petition | Spread the Word
Stop Governor Fletcher's Political Censorship in Kentucky
Censorship just may be the last refuge of corrupt government officials. As you’ve no doubt read by now, Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher is
under indictment for corruption scandals in his administration. A particularly outspoken local blogger – Mark Nickolas of
BluegrassReport.org – has helped drive coverage of the corruption and has become a respected local source for national media covering the scandals.
But it was still surprising for many state employees when they found themselves unable to access BluegrassReport.org the day after Mark was quoted in the
New York Times. Soon, even more blogs got blocked by the state, which claims that this was an incident unrelated to the in-depth coverage from blogs regarding Fletcher’s ethical problems. While the state claims the censorship is viewpoint neutral, they have no guidelines for the ban and a local conservative blog was actually pro-actively removed from the ban after the proprietor complained.
Mark Nickolas is
bringing a lawsuit to protect his First Amendment interests. And now, the Progressive States Network is working with Kentucky legislators to promote new rules that treat state employees like adults and respect free speech rights. We need your help.
State Representative Kathy Stein is requesting a bill draft to protect the right of state agencies to prohibit employees from using their work computers inappropriately but would require the state to do so in a viewpoint neutral way and follow fair procedures.
To show your support for this reform in Kentucky and in your own state, please --
sign our petition!
These core principles protect the interests of Kentucky taxpayers while treating state employees like the responsible adults they are.
And they make it clear: political censorship by the government is unacceptable.
We need to send Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher a strong message that the First Amendment is non-negotiable.
Sign our petition.
Together, we’ll send a message to Fletcher and to lawmakers across the country that they can’t use Chinese policies here in America simply because they want to avoid scrutiny for their actions.
