Religious bus ad controversy continues

What started as an attempt to raise Chapel Hill’s revenue could end in a lawsuit.

Pamela Geller, executive director of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, has submitted a pro-Israel bus ad to the town — and she’s threatening to sue if the ad isn’t run.

Geller’s proposed ad reads, “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad.”

But after Wednesday night’s town council meeting, the ad might never make it on Chapel Hill Transit buses.

The council decided during the meeting to suspend all new ads after realizing they had been using the draft advertising policy for more than a year.

The official policy, which was adopted June 13, 2011 but not used, bans political or social ads.

Geller said if Chapel Hill won’t run the ad, she might sue.

“I intend for our ads to run, and I will take whatever legal measures that requires to get them up,” she said. “If they want to waste their tax payers’ dollars, so be it.”

Church of Reconciliation’s

“They should run our ad at the same time, since they’ve allowed that vicious ad to be posted,” she said.

Geller has successfully sued New York City and Washington, D.C. earlier this year after judges ruled that the initiative’s ad is protected by the First Amendment.

“The town has already chosen to run political messages, so they can’t stop midstream and choose which political messages they will or will not be running,” she said.

“This is a violation of the First Amendment.”

Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt said he’s not concerned about a lawsuit.

“She’s very litigation happy,” he said.

“The fact that someone might sue because we’re doing our jobs doesn’t bother me. We have to work on ensuring that we develop the best policy for our community that is both respectful and constitutional.”

Margaret Misch, a Carrboro resident, said she supports running political ads on the buses.

“I am a strong advocate of civil rights, civil liberties and freedom of speech,” she said.

Misch said although the debate is about whether buses are a public space, she thinks freedom of speech should be allowed regardless.

The council will revisit the bus ad policy on Nov. 5.

Kleinschmidt said the council could decide to eliminate ads, ban only religious and political ads or allow all bus ads.

“It really depends on the community conversation and the council’s deliberation as to what direction we’re going to take.”

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