Kirby Wilbur, host of ”The Kirby Wilbur Show” on KVI 570 AM in Seattle, Washington, was one of two defendants in a major free-speech case decided by the Washington Supreme Court yesterday. I interviewed Kirby for an NRO Podcast you can download by clicking here.

Wilbur does a great job here of explaining the basics of the case to the uninitiated. What happened is that a clutch of Washington localities sued Wilbur and another KVI talk show host for speaking out against a new gas tax. The local governments argued that the two talk show hosts should have to put a monetary value on their support for a ballot initiative to repeal the tax and then subject this amount to campaign-finance regulations.

The Washington State Supreme Court, fortunately, saw this as a blatant attack on free speech, and handed the KVI hosts a victory yesterday. Now, as Kirby explains, he and fellow defendant John Carlson are going on offense and suing the localities for violating their civil rights. It’s absolutely the right thing to do. Government officials — federal, state, or local – should face consequences for trying to bully people into shutting up.

NRO Podcast: Kirby Wilbur (11:51)