How Much Is Too Much Free Speech? The Abuse Local Officials Take for the Privilege of Serving..."now read all about it on Facebook"

Elkhart Second District City Councilman Chad Crabtree

There is an old bargain in American politics: Run for public office and the public gets to criticize you. Vote the wrong way, raise taxes, ignore a pothole or make a foolish statement at a council meeting, and voters have every right to let you hear about it.

But when does criticism stop being legitimate political speech and become something else?

Former Michiana Shores Town Board President Dr. Jean Poulard, who taught government at Indiana University Northwest in Gary, IN, before retiring and serving in local government, is in the process of writing his memoirs.

There was a time when Council President Poulard approved the construction of a new Town Hall and new fire station for the Michiana Shores Volunteer Fire Department, a decision that brought Chicago-area seasonal residents at the Beach out in force to question the Town Board at raucous public meetings.

In a serious of meeting the hoosier full timer where accused all kinds of wrongdoing by the "FIPs," and that wasn't the term for "Friendly" Illinois People, that became memorable local events and decades of hard feelings and division. The controversy grew so heated that even the town attorney at the time received death threats for his role in advising the elected council members as their legal counsel.

What makes those Northern Indiana historic events newsworthy today is what happened afterwards. Doug Bernacchi was Michiana Shores' forward-thinking town counsel, and today, for approximately the next 90 years, the Town of Michiana Shores will pay just $1 a year to rent that town hall building for public meetings as well as the offices of its clerk-treasurer.

"Such a deal."

Despite the intense public opposition at the time, Michiana Shores subsequently has operated with extraordinarily low taxes, and a small municipal budget. It is a case study in good government.

The controversy surrounding Poulard's leadership therefore looks considerably different with the benefit of years of hindsight: what some residents once attacked as a questionable decision ultimately provided the Town of Michiana Shores with historical and remarkably inexpensive municipal facilities for generations.

Bernacchi, right, hands Indiana Senator Michael Bohacek from Michiana Shores the Award Certificate Sent to His Law Offices for Awarding to Michiana Town Council President Jean Poulard, center, at a cermony outside of the LaPorte County Courthouse in LaPorte, IN

Poulard's public service was later recognized by Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, who awarded him the Sagamore of the Wabash, one of Indiana's best-known honors bestowed by a governor.

Bernacchi was later suspended from the practice of law in a lawfare ethics attack on him by G. Micheal Witte and Aaron Johnson of the Indiana Supreme Court Attorney Disciplinary Commission under failed Indiana Chief Justice Loretta Rush. Based on HE's review of the circumstances and previously published reporting, the Hoosier Enquirer has questioned whether that discipline was justified or corrupt to stop his candidacy for judge. HE has called for Loretta Rush to resign from her post often in the past. She has not responded to HE's requests.

Whatever one's view of that later controversy, the record in Michiana Shores remains worth revisiting: decisions that produced public outrage decades ago, can look very different after the passage of time. Today, the success of the Lake Michigan Beach Community is special.

The question today is worth asking in Elkhart

In Elkhart, where City Councilman Chad Crabtree says the abuse he receives from one neighborhood resident has moved well beyond disagreements over municipal policy. Are constituents free to abuse elected officials seeking to address real problems, but instead are distracted by the squeezing wheels that are often over/the too loud and persistent and overly personal in their ongoing attacks,

That Elkhart resident is Roger Cotterman, an outspoken critic and overzealous constituent (“to be extra nice”) who is hardly a stranger to local politics himself. Cotterman previously sought the Republican nomination for an Elkhart City Council seat. Today, according to Crabtree, Cotterman’s criticism isn’t confined to Facebook.

“Yea, he drives by my house, honking and giving the finger, all while yelling something,” Crabtree told the Hoosier Enquirer.

That is Crabtree’s account, and HE has not independently verified the alleged drive-by incidents. Cotterman should be offered an opportunity to respond. That distinction matters because criticizing Chad Crabtree on Facebook—however relentless, personal or poorly supported the criticism might be—is protected political expression and fundamentally different from repeatedly confronting someone at his residence.

Public Office Doesn’t Make Chad Crabtree Public Property

America should be extraordinarily reluctant to decide that political speech has become “too much.” The First Amendment protects harsh criticism, ridicule and a considerable amount of speech most people would consider offensive. Elected officials, moreover, have less room than ordinary citizens to complain about being criticized. They volunteered for public scrutiny.

But the First Amendment is not a national civility exemption.

Local elected officials such as Crabtree occupy an especially strange position. They aren’t surrounded by congressional staffs, security details and Washington offices. They live among the people they represent. They shop at the same stores, drive the same streets and encounter constituents in ordinary life, all while receiving relatively modest compensation for dealing with budgets, zoning, ordinances and constituent complaints.

Some politicians deserve a political thrashing. When elected officials lie, waste taxpayers’ money, abuse their authority or forget whom they represent, citizens should make noise. Newspapers should investigate them. Constituents should challenge them. Opponents should run against them.

But criticism ought to have some relationship to facts.

Facebook has increasingly blurred the distinction between participating in democracy and performing outrage for an audience. A person can make an accusation in seconds, repeat it 20 times, attract a chorus of agreement and move on to the next outrage before anyone bothers determining whether the original claim was true.

The neighborhood crank isn’t new. Every town has had one. Are they the village idiot or just misinformed and out of medications, or self medicating? Who knows. But others are sharing Cotterman's posts on facebook and are concerned for his excessive worrying.

And what is new is that the neighborhood crank now owns a publishing company called "Facebook," that carries his or her own printing press in a pocket and can distribute the day’s outrage before breakfast. Shared on Social Media.

And occasionally, according to elected officials such as Crabtree, the behavior leaves the screen altogether.

If Crabtree’s account is accurate and a constituent is repeatedly driving past his home, honking, yelling and making obscene gestures, the important question isn’t whether Crabtree has thick enough skin for public office. It is why a disagreement over government has become personal enough to follow an elected official home.

Free Speech Includes the Right to Be a Jerk

There is another important point: government shouldn’t police ordinary incivility.

Americans possess an enormously broad constitutional right to criticize politicians, and protecting that right inevitably means protecting people who exercise it badly. The cure for obnoxious political speech usually isn’t censorship. It is more speech, better information, public accountability and occasionally simply ignoring someone.

Communities, however, can maintain standards without passing laws.

Citizens can say that criticism based upon facts is valuable while harassment isn’t. They can distinguish between asking Chad Crabtree why he voted a particular way and making the man himself the object of a continuing personal campaign. They can recognize that disagreement is an essential part of democracy while intimidation contributes nothing to deliberative government.

And perhaps we should resist casually diagnosing every outrageous person as mentally ill. Some behavior that looks like “mental illness on parade” may simply be anger, obsession, bad manners or somebody discovering that Facebook rewards increasingly extreme performances. Actual mental illness is a medical matter; political obnoxiousness requires no diagnosis.

The irony is that Cotterman once wanted a council seat himself. He put his name on a ballot and asked Elkhart residents to entrust him with public office. He therefore knows—or should know—that local government depends upon ordinary citizens such as Chad Crabtree being willing to endure long meetings, difficult decisions, angry constituents and public criticism for comparatively little reward.

Criticize Chad Crabtree. Question his votes. Challenge his facts. Investigate his decisions. Run against him. And if voters don’t like the job he’s doing, vote him out.

But perhaps don’t drive past his house honking and giving him the finger.

There ought to be enough room between censorship and insanity for Hoosiers simply to disagree with one another. But we live in a state with declining courts and justice systems that is failing all Hoosiers everywhere.