Freedom of Speech or Freedom of Slander in Idaho?

Dan Popkey - The Idaho Statesman - Always Idaho: "Whoever jobbed Chuck Winder in the 2003 Boise mayor's race with an Election Eve telephone attack ad is tenacious about keeping their identity secret.

Former Attorney General Dave Leroy told 4th District Judge Kathryn Sticklen last week that he would advise his unnamed client(s) to fire him if she orders him to reveal who they are.

Since March, Boise city officials have toiled to enforce Idaho's campaign disclosure laws, which require sponsors of campaign ads and persuasive telephone polls to identify themselves and who paid the bills.
If Leroy's Doe(s) prevail, they will establish a precedent for anonymous campaign shenanigans. Anybody with the means to get a good lawyer could repeat the scheme that smeared Winder: Hire out-of-state consultants and attack without fear of taking responsibility for the message.

Leroy, one of the ablest criminal lawyers around, is using every tool in the shed on behalf of whomever paid for recorded phone calls unfairly linking Winder to the Boise City Hall scandal. Winder fell 802 votes short of forcing a runoff with now-Mayor Dave Bieter in November 2003.
Leroy is raising constitutional issues springing from the Fifth Amendment's protection against self-incrimination that have never been decided in Idaho."