Bashing governor in publicly funded campaign ads is OK in Connecticut legislative races, court rules

By DAVE COLLINS
Associated Press

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut’s Supreme Court has ruled that two Republican candidates for the state legislature should not have been fined thousands of dollars for criticizing the governor in their 2014 campaign ads. The court overturned the fines on Monday, saying they violated the constitutional free speech rights of Sen. Rob Sampson and former Sen. Joe Markley. The State Elections Enforcement Commission had found that Sampson and Markley violated the rules of the state’s public campaign financing program by criticizing then-Gov. Dannel Malloy in their ads, because Malloy was a candidate in another race. Sampson won reelection to the House in 2014 and Markley won reelection to the Senate.