Peachtree Officials Come To Their Senses, Vote Down Plan To Finance Lawsuits Against Critics Following Widespread Criticism

from the nice-move-geniuses dept

A quick followup to yesterday's post about officials in Peachtree, Georgia looking to pass a resolution that would allow city officials to spend taxpayer money to sue their own critics for defamation. There were all sorts of problems with this... and it appears the taxpayers weren't happy. At the city council meeting last night, lots of those taxpayers made it clear this was a bad idea:

People lined up to push back against the resolution....

“You get to decide whether you’ve been defamed or not and you want to use our money taxpayer money to sue us, we might impoverish us,” said another Peachtree City resident.

It sounds like nearly everyone who spoke out was against the proposal, leading it to be voted down unanimously, though the mayor, Vanessa Fleisch, had an odd bit of commentary on the whole thing:

“I think it’s the right outcome I work for the citizens, the intent was very pure but it wasn’t written correctly I’ve been told and so the citizens have spoken and we move on,” said Mayor Fleisch.

The intent is never pure when the goal is for public officials to sue critics. And, the problem was not that it wasn't written correctly. The problem was with the whole idea. Hopefully, this doesn't mean there's a plan to "rewrite" this proposal. Just leave it be and maybe get a somewhat thicker skin if you're going to work for the government.

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Filed Under: 1st amendment, defamation, free speech, georgia, jon rorie, lawsuits, peachtree city, taxpayer funds, vanessa fleisch


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  1. icon
    afn29129 David (profile), 19 Apr 2019 @ 10:02pm

    Residents watch closely

    Peachtree, GA residents need to watch their city officials quite closely. They appear quite capable of more stupid proposals

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 20 Apr 2019 @ 1:46am

    Re: watch Mayor closely

    yeah, Mayor Vanessa is obviously unrepentant and will sin again.

    She is a big-ego liberal Democrat (recently cloaking herself as an 'independent').
    Her political ilk is destroying cities across the nation.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. icon
    Tanner Andrews (profile), 20 Apr 2019 @ 4:40am

    Re: Re: watch Mayor closely

    big-ego liberal Democrat

    The Ds do not have a monopoly on thin skins. Let someone say something rude about the cheeto-faced shitgibbon and watch Fox and the Rs howl.

    We need a thicker-skinned grade of politicians, generally. Some that can withstand a bit of disparagement and still work out reasonable legislation would be nice.

    Pro tip for mayors: look to the City. Our mayor has lasted a long time, at least in part, because he does not get upset; indeed, he practically gives off an aura of sanity.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 20 Apr 2019 @ 6:37am

    Re: Re: Re: watch Mayor closely

    It's not just politicians that need to develop thicker skin. Sadly, we live in the age of the "snowflake" when everyone is outraged about something trivial. Now "God Bless America" singer Kate Smith is being banished to the memory hole because nearly a century ago she once sang a song that by today's standards would be considered very politically incorrect. Soon there won't be any more statues left standing.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 20 Apr 2019 @ 8:51am

    Re: Re: watch Mayor closely

    As with the last article you pulled this stunt in, Peachtree is a solidly Republican enclave, and the mayor has been quoted as having "Republican leanings". Can you engage on the article itself or is that outside of your capabilities?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 20 Apr 2019 @ 10:55am

    Re: Re: watch Mayor closely

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 20 Apr 2019 @ 12:50pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: watch Mayor closely

    Yes, and these single points of reference are very much indicative of the entire groups of people denigrated by the typical slurs.

    /s ... jic

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 20 Apr 2019 @ 3:59pm

    Re: Re: Re: watch Mayor closely

    Mayor Fleisch won her current term in a close 2017 election requiring a runoff election.

    Voter Turnout in Nov 2017 was only 24%

    Voter Turnout in Dec 2017 Runoff was a pitiful 17%

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 20 Apr 2019 @ 5:22pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: watch Mayor closely

    ^^With that turnout, it is surprising that anyone came to the meeting to complain.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 21 Apr 2019 @ 2:49pm

    Re: Residents watch closely

    That and they obviously need to find new ways to bilk the area out of taxpayers money.

    Next up it'll be secret "national security" pay bonuses for everyone, with the data redacted because edward snowden/ISIS/wikileaks/The chinese government might be listening.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 21 Apr 2019 @ 3:22pm

    Wrong Order

    1. Make the passing of laws a private mater between lawmakers.
    2. Pass Stupid Anti-citizen laws.

    In that order~!
    O and Don't forget to control the press - send the sheriff to confiscate any reporters equipment, put them jail for drunk and disorderly.

    Control the narrative - they made rookie mistake.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. icon
    chad hatten austin (profile), 21 Apr 2019 @ 6:56pm

    glad to see this was changed

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Apr 2019 @ 2:34am

    Re: Re: Re: watch Mayor closely

    she ran as a Democrat for City Council and then initial mayoral run.
    only ten percent of the Peachtree citizens voted for her in last election.

    original article directly framed the issue as a problem with "Georgia"; Fleisch was unnoticed.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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