We’re appalled at an action taken recently by the five members of the Sumter County Commission – and as taxpayers, you should be, too.
Last week, the commissioners – Al Butler, Doug Gilpin, Don Burgess, Garry Breeden and Steve Printz – agreed to proceed with a defamation lawsuit against an animal activist who posted an unfavorable video last month on the Shelter Reform for Sumter County Facebook page.
The video, posted by Karen Pauly-Gugliuzza of Leesburg, a volunteer dog walker with the Lake County Animal Shelter, referred to commissioners as monsters, cold-hearted snakes and “dirty, rotten scoundrels.” It has since been removed, but as of last Tuesday, it had received 6,308 views and 194 shares.
The battle between animal activists, led by Villager Angie Fox, and the commission has been ongoing for quite some time. At the heart of the matter are the group’s demands that the county shelter become a no-kill facility and conditions for animals there are upgraded.
The county has improved its live release percentage of animals received to about 90 percent for six months, which is the level of a no-kill shelter. But commissioners have refused to put a no-kill designation on the shelter, which remains a huge thorn in the sides of the highly vocal activists.
During last week’s meeting, County Attorney Jennifer Rey asked for guidance in proceeding with the defamation lawsuit.
“While we respect the public’s right to free speech, we believe there are limits,” she said. “There have to be limits of what is acceptable public speech.”
Sorry, Jennifer, but that’s where we believe you’re wrong. Every Sumter County commissioner clearly falls under the definition of public figure. And in this country – the greatest one on Earth – we have something called the First Amendment that gives us the right to do things like criticize elected officials.
In 1964, the Supreme Court made that fact abundantly clear with its landmark decision in New York Times v. Sullivan. The high court explained that fundamental to the First Amendment is “the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide open, and that it may well include vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials.”
Maybe Sumter County’s commissioners aren’t aware of that 54-year-old decision. Or maybe they just don’t care. Could it be that this whole thing is just a scare tactic to get the animal activists’ attention?
Whatever it is, actually proceeding with a defamation suit is ludicrous at best.
Many people probably aren’t aware of it, but this kind of legal bullying has a name – Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, or SLAPP for short. Maybe the commissioners also aren’t aware that Florida Statute 768.295 prohibits the kind of lawsuit.
“It is the public policy of this state that a person or governmental entity not engage in SLAPP suits because such actions are inconsistent with the right of persons to exercise such constitutional rights of free speech in connection with public issues,” the Statute reads in part, adding that “it is the intent of the Legislature that such lawsuits be expeditiously disposed of by the courts.”
In Florida, attorney Sandy D’Alemberte is an expert in SLAPP suits. The former president of Florida State University and law school dean is representing Maggy Hurchalla, a Florida environmentalist who expressed her rights of free speech in opposing a Martin County land development and was hit with a $4.3 million judgment. But unlike the suit Sumter County commissioners are seeking to file, the legal action brought against Hurchalla – the late Janet Reno is her sister – involved a powerful developer that felt harmed by her communications with county commissioners.
“These lawsuits are intended to chill citizen’s participation in public issues and to punish them from exercising their rights of free speech and their right to petition,” D’Alemberte, also a former president of the American Bar Association, told us Friday.
So what does all this mean? It’s simple, really. Sumter County residents are represented by five guys with thin skin who take $57,047 annually – $285,235 total – of your hard-earned money for a part-time job. And now they’re apparently willing to spend a whole lot more of your tax dollars on a lawsuit with no merit that should quickly be tossed out of a court.
Of course, this entire thing could very well be nothing more than a scare tactic by the commissioners to get the animal activists off their backs. The Facebook video has been removed and we’re confident they’ve sufficiently scared the daylights out of the woman who posted it. So will anybody really be surprised if they announce they’re not going to proceed with the lawsuit when they meet at the Colony Cottage Recreation Center on June 26? We certainly won’t be.
For the record, we aren’t in favor of name-calling like those used in the video. We think there’s a much better way to communicate than the passive-aggressive approach of hiding behind social media. And we hope the animal activists involved take that advice to heart going forward.
We also believe these commissioners have done some great things for Sumter County. They’re known for running it like a successful business and keeping taxes low. But we find it quite alarming that they seem to have lost sight of that mission and are willing to shell out what easily could become millions of dollars over a video with 6,308 views.
Come on, guys! That number equates to just 5 percent of Sumter County’s population. And we all know everyone who watched it doesn’t live in the county.
Frankly, we find this entire debacle embarrassing at best. We’re willing to bet that many of you do, too. And we’re guessing the willy-nilly way they were willing to spend your tax dollars will be remembered the next time these five commissioners ask you to keep lining their pockets with $57,047 a year.
