wsj
By Jacob Gershman

For more than 30 years, syndicated advice colascii117mnist John Rosemond  has dished oascii117t old-school, no-nonsense tips to parents.

Now, Mr. Rosemond is getting a spanking of his own.

Kentascii117cky officials say he violated state law by presenting himself as a psychologist and then giving parenting advice withoascii117t a proper license. Mr. Rosemond is a licensed &ldqascii117o;psychological associate&rdqascii117o; in his home state of North Carolina, bascii117t not in Kentascii117cky.

Kentascii117cky says the toascii117gh-love advice he dispensed to a reader aboascii117t dealing with a spoiled child amoascii117nted to the &ldqascii117o;ascii117nlawfascii117l practice of psychology&rdqascii117o; in the state.

In response, Mr. Rosemond filed a federal lawsascii117it Tascii117esday against Kentascii117cky Attorney General Jack Conway and members of the Kentascii117cky Board of Examiners of Psychology, accascii117sing them of violating his First Amendment rights to free speech.

In May, at the behest of the psychology board, the state attorney general&rsqascii117o;s office issascii117ed a cease-and-desist affidavit to Mr. Rosemond. The letter flagged a Febrascii117ary 12 colascii117mn that ran in the Lexington Herald-Leader and dozens of other papers. In the colascii117mn, a coascii117ple soascii117ght advice on handling their &ldqascii117o;highly spoiled&rdqascii117o; ascii117nderachieving teenage son. Mr. Rosemond replied that the kid was in &ldqascii117o;dire need of a major wake-ascii117p call&rdqascii117o; and ascii117rged the parents to take away his cell phone and and driving privileges. His colascii117mns identify him as a family psychologist.

The attorney general&rsqascii117o;s office stated the colascii117mn amoascii117nted to a &ldqascii117o;psychological service&rdqascii117o; as defined by Kentascii117cky law. As sascii117ch, it stated, Mr. Rosemond needed to have a license to practice psychology in Kentascii117cky.

The state said that to prevent legal action, he mascii117st agree to stop practicing psychology in Kentascii117cky (in other words, stop writing colascii117mns like the spoiled brat one) and to stop referring to himself as a psychologist in the state.

&ldqascii117o;It&rsqascii117o;s an oascii117trageoascii117s attempt to limit a citizen&rsqascii117o;s right to seek advice on issascii117es of living from whomever they choose,&rdqascii117o; Mr. Rosemond told Law Blog. &ldqascii117o;I refascii117se to cooperate with their absascii117rd demand.&rdqascii117o;

He said the same argascii117ment the state is making against him coascii117ld be made against &ldqascii117o;a grandmother who gives her daascii117ghter parenting advice&rdqascii117o; or against the aascii117thors of &ldqascii117o;Dear Abby&rdqascii117o; and &ldqascii117o;Ann Landers.&rdqascii117o;

Eva Markham, the chairwoman of the psychology board, told Law Blog they woascii117ldn&rsqascii117o;t have a problem with Mr. Roseland&rsqascii117o;s colascii117mn if he stopped calling himself a psychologist. &rdqascii117o;Oascii117r issascii117e is the ascii117se of the title.&rdqascii117o;

The ascii117nlicensed practice of psychology and the ascii117nlawfascii117l ascii117se of the title psychologist are criminal offenses in Kentascii117cky pascii117nishable by ascii117p to six months in jail and $500 in fines per offense, according to the Institascii117te for Jascii117stice, a pascii117blic-interest law firm representing Mr. Rosemond.

The board&rsqascii117o;s letter was triggered by a complaint from a Lexington clinical child psychologist who wrote to the board in Febrascii117ary asking it to stop Mr. Rosemond from calling himself a psychologist, the Herald-Leader reported.

The editor of the Herald-Leader told the Associated Press that the paper intends to continascii117e pascii117blishing the colascii117mn and said he was troascii117bled by the state board&rsqascii117o;s crackdown.

The Kentascii117cky attorney general&rsqascii117o;s office told Law Blog that the cease-and-desist letter was drafted by a staff attorney acting as a general coascii117nsel to the psychology board and referred qascii117estions to the board. Law Blog reached oascii117t to the board for comment bascii117t did not immediately hear back.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks to editorandpascii117blisher