FAC sent the following letter to the San Joaquin Regional Transit District urging it to disavow and withdraw a threat made by one of its board members, Aaron Edwards, to members of the public at a July 17 meeting. At the meeting, Edwards said: “I’m going to let the public know that I will be filing a defamation suit on any public member, any public member that continues to spread that narrative that we are stealing money … That is a forewarning … And trust me, I have no problem, no problem seeing you in court … I will not stand by and allow the public to continue to desecrate this board over and over and over again without consequences being had.”
FAC’s letter notes this threat is an “unacceptable attack on freedom of speech,” and “such threats of legal action in response to public comments unjustifiably chill protected speech, undermine the First Amendment, and attack the foundations of democracy and civic engagement.”