PITTSFIELD, N.H. – Public sector unions have done little in recent years to endear themselves to the public.

In tight financial times, too many unions have refused to make even temporary financial concessions to help local or state governments or school districts get the most out of their limited flow of revenue.

But sometimes government goes too far in its effort to limit union power and influence. That was clearly the case in Pittsfield, New Hampshire.

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The state’s Public Employee Relations Board recently sided with the Pittsfield Town Employees Union (affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers) in a battle over fundamental freedom of speech.

It seems that the Pittsfield Board of Selectmen imposed a gag order, preventing town employees from speaking out on issues facing the community, either in public or in letters to local newspapers, according to a story published by Union-Leader.com

One might have expected the board’s attorney to share a simple fact before such a rule was imposed: It’s an obvious violation of the employee’s First Amendment guarantee of free speech.

The gag order, which was only in place for 10 days, required that “communications from town employees, anticipated to be shared with media outlets, shall be reviewed by the Board of Selectmen or its designee.”

The Board of Selectmen must have gone to sleep and dreamed they were ruling a town in North Korea or Cuba.

They’re not, and their sickening attempt to muzzle political opposition from people on their payroll was rightfully thrown out by the labor board.  The voters of Pittsfield should give serious consideration to throwing out the selectmen, as well.

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This reminds of an American journalist we know who once worked at an English newspaper in Beijing, China. Her completed stories were sent to a government agency for editing. When the stories returned, they bore little resemblance to the original copy, and were scrubbed clean of anything that might make the government look less than perfect.

That’s not the American way. We only remain free because we have the absolute, inalienable right to speak out about our government and criticize our leaders whenever we feel the desire. People who are not allowed to criticize their government are in desperate need of a new form of government.

The Board of Selectmen would probably argue that they were not trampling on the public’s right to free speech. They were only trying to regulate the flow of damaging comments from their own employees. But that’s a crock. Americans do not sacrifice their constitutional rights when they accept a job with the government.

That’s Civics 101. The fact that the people running Pittsfield thought they could get away with imposing such an offensive, unconstitutional rule is truly frightening.