Prosecutor sues his opponent in election

SOUTH BEND -- A judge rejected the St. Joseph County prosecutor's request to stop a political ad the prosecutor claimed was false and defamatory.\nThe commercial for Republican candidate Greg Kauffman is protected speech and can remain on the air, St. Joseph Superior Court Judge David C. Chapleau ruled Saturday.\nDemocrat Michael Dvorak filed a lawsuit Friday asking for an injunction to halt the 30-second television spot, saying it falsely accuses him of violating the law by hiring his wife to work in his office. Dvorak has said the move is not illegal because he does not personally supervise her.\nThe validity of the allegation, however, was not Chapleau's main concern.\n"My concern is that political speech, even inaccurate, must be allowed unless it's so clear that it's a question of confusing the public," Chapleau said. He cited a Michigan case in which a judge pulled an ad that misidentified one of the candidates.\nIn the TV ad, Kauffman says Dvorak "contradicts state law" because he hired his wife, Kathleen Dvorak, to run the child support division in his office. Kauffman has repeatedly accused Dvorak of nepotism, a charge the prosecutor has denied.\nDvorak said the ad "crosses the line" of protected political free speech.\n"Certainly people have the right to free speech, but that free speech stops at the point they're making defamatory lies," Dvorak said.\nKauffman defended the ad and said the lawsuit was a desperate political maneuver. \n"We didn't say anything illegal was done; it's just a contradiction of the state laws," he said.\nChapleau said Dvorak was free to counter Kauffman's ad with one of his own. That way, the public could make its own determination through "the exchange of information by the candidates."\nThe suit was filed in circuit court, but a new judge was appointed because Circuit Judge Michael Gotsch worked in Dvorak's administration when the prosecutor's wife was hired.