Thomas Jefferson sure nailed it when he said, “The boisterous sea of Liberty is never without a wave.” Well the current “rough water” of this political season sure illustrates that free elections can be messy affairs and Jefferson clearly saw that over 200 years ago. We’ve had numerous calls and emails complaining about campaign ads: specifically ads for state-wide Propositions. I’ve been told by both sides of the same-sex marriage battle that the other side is cheating and lying and we should unilaterally pull the offender’s ads off KSBW. I’ve had numerous viewer complaints about the video showing mistreatment of animals used by the pro-Prop 2 folks. I have even gotten a few complaints about the “singing children” of the pro-Prop 3 contingent – it seems some people don’t appreciate the nice children who, in their opinion, are shilling for support to take on more unaffordable state debt.

Well, broadly stated, our policy is to lean toward running political issue ads as submitted, rather than censor debate by our refusal. We’ll block a political message if it is obscene, indecent, profane, slanderous, advocates violence or breaking the law, engages in personal attack, or where untruthfulness is obvious (either through injunctive relief provided by the courts or where a claim is patently false), but trying to be the arbiter for “taste” or “judgment” is where we draw the line. A political ad can be offensive, but we think that is a better situation than having someone like me unilaterally deciding that the “nice” ads can air, but the ones I don’t like, can’t. I’ll bet if you think about it, you’d agree.

“The boisterous sea of Liberty” can sometimes make for rough sailing, but the alternative is a calm and chilling ride on the placid lake of tyranny. Our KSBW Editorial Board hopes you’ll brave the rough waters and vote by this Tuesday.