A New Free Speech Restriction?

Are political robocalls irritating? Sometimes. Did I use them in the 2006 election? Yes. But is Dr. Dan Morhaim's idea quite excessive? Yes:

Automated political campaign phone calls to anyone on the federal do-not-call registry would be banned in Maryland under a bill expected to be introduced in the General Assembly on Monday.

The bill's sponsor, Democratic Del. Dan K. Morhaim of Baltimore County, said that so-called "robo-calls" were "a novelty" in 2004. But they were taken to a new level last year, he said, one that many constituents found annoying....

...Morhaim's bill would ban any prerecorded calls "related to" a political campaign. "I especially received complaints from seniors," he said.

Morhaim notes that a lot of the calls did not carry the proper authority line. I know one candidate in District 31 who inundated voters with robocalls in both the primary and general elections, and all of his calls were illegal and did not have the authority line. But what that has to do with a new law I have no idea, since campaign materials including calls are already illegal if they do not carry the authority line.

Most importantly, Morhaim's bill does not pass constitutional muster; a clear violation of free speech laws...