By way of Slashdot and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, we learn that Mayor Juan Perez of Sheboygan, WI ordered the City Prosecutor to launch a criminal investigation against website owner Jennifer Reisinger (Sheboygan Spirit) for the crime of linking to the City Police website without advance permission. Perez, it is speculated, may have been motivated by Reisingers role in a failed recall effort.
Not surprisingly, Reisinger apparently felt this might perhaps be a uniquely offensive abuse of not merely authority, but authority that did not actually exist. She is now suing the City of Sheboygan, Perez, and various city officials in Federal Court, in what may well be a precedent setting case should it actually reach a courtroom without some kind of settlement diverting the case.
SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) is a type of lawsuit that plaintiff (typically a larger and better funded organization) files against a private individual or group with significantly fewer resources. The notion is to batter the defendant into submission (or just shutting up) utilizing the intricacies of the legal system (filing dubious motions, requiring vast amounts of questionably relevant information, etc) to exhaust the defendants spirtual, financial, emotional, and community resources - often succeeding well before they ever see a courtroom.
From what I read at the cited links, it appears that Perez raised the stakes - using police investigatory powers and threats of prosecution in an attempt to silence a critic.
Frankly, I hope she not only wins, but ends up with punitive damages in addition to any actual damages.
Pointing at a government website is no more a crime than telling a group of people the location of City Hall - and attempts to make it such should be punished by the courts and the voters with great enthusiasm.
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