Tuesday, December 30, 2008
ERIE, Pa. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a failed congressional candidate’s defamation lawsuit against outgoing U.S. Rep. Phil English.
In his 2007 suit, Steven Porter claimed English’s TV ads used an out-of-context quote from Porter’s 1991 book, “The Ethics of a Democracy.”
The book includes arguments for government sterilization, on a voluntary basis, of some mental patients, welfare recipients, alcoholics and parents of diseased or deformed children.
The lawsuit said the book never states that Porter, a retired college professor, shared those views, but that English’s ads paraphrased sections and claimed they were Porter’s opinions.
Porter lost to English in 2004 and 2006. English was defeated by Democrat Kathy Dahlkemper in November’s general election.