Assemblyman Tim Gordon, I-Bethlehem, is capping off his time in office by releasing today four new pieces of legislation he’s authored, three of which deal with campaign law.
Gordon is proposing implementing the now privately-run Fair Campaign Practices standards into law; creating political harassment legislation; and amending the state’s stalking law to specifically include audio and video recording.
Gordon lost his seat, which he has held for two terms, to Republican Steve McLaughlin in the November election. During the race, McLaughlin’s campaign at times utilized a `tracker` armed with a video camera to follow Gordon around.
McLaughlin used some of the footage in campaign ads, and a video that apparently showed Gordon tossing his opponents’ lawn signs in a ditch gained considerable media attention. Gordon said his neighbor had asked him to remove the signs.
As for Gordon’s political harassment legislation, the law he drafted would make it illegal to follow a candidate or a member of the candidate’s family about in public or to `engage in a course of conduct or repeatedly commit acts which alarm or seriously annoy such candidate…and such conduct or acts serve no legitimate purpose.`
`If we want good government we need good people to want to run for public office – regrettably, however, well intentioned candidates and their families sometimes become targets for harassment which is deterring good and rational people from wanting to seek public office,` said Gordon in a statement.
Gordon also released legislation that would place restrictions on how often electronic billboards can cycle their images, saying they can be a distraction to drivers.“