Inslee Official Confirms Dems Crafting Election “Lies” Criminal Legislation

We reported on January 7th that last week, Gov. Inslee floated the idea of creating misdemeanor charges for Officials who spread "election lies."

INSLEE WANTS OFFICIALS PROSECUTED IF THEY SPREAD "LIES"

This was obviously in reference to the media and some legislators revisiting the events in the Capitol from January 6, 2021.  Inslee took some potshots at former President Trump, even accusing him of still running a "coup" and claims it's still going on today (referring to the controversial election totals and procedures).

  INSLEE OFFICIAL CONFIRMS LEGISLATORS ARE CREATING SUCH A BILL

An email to Inslee's Deputy Communications Director/Press Secretary Mike Faulk confirms such a bill is being written.  We'd heard from some sources that nothing was being done on it yet, and no such legislation had been written up to be considered for the session that began today in Olympia.

The bill would allow misdemeanor charges to be brought against an Official whose (election-related?) comments could be determined to incite or cause 'violence."

However, Faulk had these replies to some questions we asked about such a bill:

The questions we asked are in bold, and his answers are below:

" What specific criteria would be used to determine if what an Official says is a lie?"

"The legislation is still being drafted. The specific criteria will come out when the bill is filed with the Legislature."

 "Who would determine if a public Official's comments incite "violence?"  

"The court’s would decide based on their interpretation of the law and how it is being applied."

We also asked if it was actually being drafted, and this was his reply:

"Yes, it is still being crafted with legislators right now."

These answers are rather vague, in my opinion, they don't specifically deal with this hot-button topic.  The 1st  Amendment protects a person's right of expression, and for the state to attempt to 'muzzle' an Official (or anyone else for that matter) because their opinion is interpreted as "lies" or could incite violence is very open-ended and dangerous.

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We will find out more when this bill is actually finished and introduced.