Candidate sues Nonini for libel

A Constitution Party candidate is suing Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Post Falls, for allegedly lying about her stance on abortion and gay marriage in campaign literature mailed to voters during the 2004 election.

Nonini, who was re-elected in November, has filed a motion for 1st District Judge John Luster to dismiss the suit, arguing it has no merit. A hearing is scheduled for March 27.

Rose Johnson, of Hauser, filed the libel lawsuit Nov. 1. She claims Nonini mailed thousands of yellow postcards to voters just days before the 2004 election. She alleges that the mailers included “untrue, deceptive, false and misleading” information about her political beliefs.

The card doesn’t identify Johnson or Nonini’s Democratic challenger by name. Instead, it refers to Nonini’s “opponents” and claims that they support abortion and “same-sex lifestyles.”

As a Constitution Party candidate, Johnson ran with a “pro-life, pro-God and pro-guns” philosophy. She claims that Nonini knew this and that’s why his last-minute mailing was libelous.

“It’s time to quit playing games and politics,” said Johnson. “It’s not just who can throw around the most money and the most lies.”

Johnson, who is representing herself, is asking for a jury trial and at least $180,000 in punitive damages, plus court costs. She also wants Nonini permanently banned from holding elected office in Idaho.

“This is just ridiculous,” Nonini said Wednesday. “She just doesn’t like me. She’s always after me about something.”

Nonini said the mailer was aimed at his main opponent, Democrat David Larsen.

“It was geared at him,” Nonini said, reiterating the postcard didn’t specifically name Johnson or Larsen.

Johnson said she’s hoping Larsen will join her lawsuit because he has had similar experiences with Nonini’s campaign tactics during this month’s election.

Larsen said Johnson didn’t contact him until after she already had filed the lawsuit and he views it as an unlikely solution to dealing with an “unethical person.”

Larsen said Nonini repeated his “sleazy” tactics in this month’s election, again sending out last-minute literature that Larsen said distorted his position and were “outright lies.”

Nonini received 64 percent of the vote and Larsen received 36 percent. Johnson garnered 24 write-in votes.

Johnson said she waited two years to file the lawsuit because she hoped to get an apology from Nonini. When that didn’t happen and Nonini allegedly used similar deceptive tactics in this election, Johnson said, she had no choice but to take the issue to court.

Another reason for the lawsuit was that Nonini declined to sponsor what she calls candidate integrity legislation, Johnson said. The idea is to change state law to hold political candidates accountable and not allow them to use false information, she said.

Nonini said he tried to cooperate with Johnson and respond to her concerns as a resident in his legislative district. He gave a copy of Johnson’s proposed legislation to the Idaho attorney general and the secretary of state. Both agencies reviewed the draft but concluded it was unconstitutional because it would violate a candidate’s freedom of speech, Nonini said.