…filed in United States District Court, March 4, 2015.
Arthur Johnston, Plaintiff vs. Annie Harala, Rosie Loeffler-Kemp, Mike Miernicki, Judy Seliga-Punyko, Bill Westholm, and the Duluth Public Schools ISD 709, Defendants
The five defendant board members of Duluth Public Schools, ISD 709, are preparing to remove me from elected office for expressing my views on School District issues. They did so by passing a resolution on Dec. 2, 2014, that proposes that I be removed from the School Board based on comments I have made. But expressing my views is what I was elected to do, and what I have a right to do.
The First Amendment protects the right to free expression. Federal law also forbids the defendants from retaliating against me for expressing my views. By adopting their removal resolution and now scheduling a week long hearing to begin May 11, my five colleagues are violating the First Amendment and federal law.
After they passed the resolution in December 2, I told them that what they are doing is illegal and would result in a federal lawsuit. It was their choice to move forward and to waste the School District’s money.
So I had to file a federal lawsuit to protect my rights, as well as the rights of School District residents, other board members, and anyone who is thinking of being a board member. My lawsuit asks the federal court to do what my five colleagues should have don,e cancel the hearing scheduled for May.
As an elected member of the Duluth Board of Education, I have the right and obligation to express myself freely pursuant to the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution of the United States of America and consistent with the privilege accorded to elected officials. And I have the right to express and otherwise advance political beliefs and ideals that I was elected for. I also have the right to freely associate with my domestic partner and I have constitutionally protected advocacy on behalf of my domestic partner.
