A judge has ruled that the Portland International Airport has to accept an anti-logging ad from an environmental organization, finding that while free speech provisions of the U.S. Constitution make room for government bodies to refuse political ads, the Oregon Constitution does not.
The ruling was handed down Thursday by Judge Eric J. Neiman in Portland.
The ad was sought by Oregon Wild as part of a campaign to defeat legislation that would increase logging on federal timberlands in Western Oregon to help timber counties.
The airport argued that it accepted no political ads, so it did not have to accept the one from Oregon Wild.
The ad depicted a large postcard showing a logged-over hillside and reading: “Welcome to Oregon, Home of the Clearcut.”
