T IN QUANDRY OVER ADS

The MBTA has just found itself caught between the proverbial rock and
a hard place. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week told
officials of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority that
their refusal to display ads from a group promoting changes in the
state's marijuana laws was a violation of the First Amendment. The
ads from Change the Climate questioned the penalties imposed on those
arrested on minor possession charges. Four years ago T officials
rejected the ads on the grounds they encouraged marijuana use, and
that the authority had the right to ban ads that might be offensive to
riders.

And to a certain extent the appeals court agreed, ruling in a separate
case the T did have the right to reject ads from the Church with the
Good News because they were deemed demeaning or disparaging of other
religions. But the court noted that some alcohol ads approved by the
MBTA were "clearly more appealing to juveniles" than the marijuana
ads submitted by Change the Climate.

The court rebuke came in the same week T General Manager Michael
Mulhern rejected a request made by the Rider Oversight Committee to
ban those liquor ads. In a letter to the group, Mulhern said, "If
the MBTA were to ban these ads, the authority would be giving up
millions of dollars in nonfare revenues, and would need to tap
another revenue source in order to maintain its carefully balanced
budget." The fact that the T spent about $800,000 to fight the
marijuana ads makes Mulhern's cost argument look a little odd.