One of the purposes of the First Amendment is to protect the people's right to speak freely, including the right to criticize the government. The government is accountable to the people, and public officials generally can't punish individuals just because they say something the officials don’t like.

Bangor, Michigan, does not seem to have gotten that memo and is now trying to determine what speech is permissible by city standards.

According to the Daily Caller:

Bangor, Michigan residents face the threat of a policy on supposed defamatory speech that the city passed after criticism of city official Justin Weber over him working as both the chief of police and city manager at once, MLive reported. The city claims some unidentified residents falsely stated he takes “two paychecks,” leading them to initiate a crackdown on speech; a crackdown which critics call unlawful.

How is it possible for one person to run an entire city and also be in charge of the police department? That’s pretty unusual, and it makes sense why someone might say he's getting “two paychecks,” as they probably mean he's being paid like he’s doing two jobs. No one would take on that much responsibility without being paid fairly.

If the city wanted to shut down those “false statements,” the best thing to do would’ve been to release his salary. But instead, they denied Freedom of Information Act requests, claiming it’s a privacy issue—even though it’s a salary funded by the taxpayer.

"My mission is accountability, transparency and I want to give Bangor back to its people,” Steve Honeycutt, who is now running for mayor, told MLive. Honeycutt reportedly kickstarted the controversy in recent months by filing public records requests with the city and publicly criticizing Weber for working his two top city jobs simultaneously.

Bangor’s city council passed a motion in January allowing the city attorney “to file [civil] charges with the court against all parties involved in statements that have caused harm to the City.” Officials have said that multiple residents are making false claims about Weber’s salary, without naming Honeycutt, as well as “burdensome” records requests, according to MLive.

Who exactly gets to decide what counts as “harm”? Not all false statements are illegal, and the city has yet to disprove the claims. The Constitution protects speech even when it turns out to be incorrect.

The fact that the city is willing to spend time and resources going after residents for what they said is pretty telling. It’s unclear if this is about protecting the truth or shutting down criticism, but I will let you judge that.

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