Eagleton Lawsuit Threat

A proposed credit union was set to be built at the corner of 13th and Lewis.  City council approval was required and on October 30, 2008 the city council voted to approve the credit union.  An ethics complaint was filed on February 4, 2009 by "Chip" Atkins via the city's Ethics and Compliance Hotline (a process we believe to be seriously flawed, but that's another story we hope to write about soon).  The complaint centered around the appearance that two city councilors (Gomez and Martinson) who voted for the credit union were "receiving some sort of compensation from the credit union."  The complaint also questioned the source of a stack of letters written to the council supporting the project, one address didn't exist and one was outside of the City of Tulsa.

When City Council Chairman John Eagleton on February 18, 2009 announced the city council's decision that the ethics complaint was "unfounded" he also made the disturbing comment that Atkins "did open himself up to a slander lawsuit from the two city councilors and the credit union."  This implied lawsuit threat against Mr. Atkins is at the crux of our issue.  The threat is nothing more than an intimidation tactic.  Citizens should be able to comment and criticize what their public officials do without the potential that they will be sued.  That’s simply not appropriate.  The mere threat of a lawsuit can make citizens leery about filing ethics complaints in the future.  But that's the whole point of the threat, to undermine the ethics complaint process, isn't it??  These threats need to stop.

(Postscript...Why is the City Council investigating ethics complaints against itself??  Hmmmm, doesn't sound right to us either.)

Lawsuits can financially devastate those involved, and the threat of such lawsuits has a chilling effect on free speech.  Lawsuits designed to silence opposition on public issues are known nationally as SLAPP (strategic litigation against public participation) suits, and several states have passed legislation to protect their citizens from such threats.  You rarely hear of threatened SLAPP suits because they are so effective, but they happen more often than you might think.

No Tulsan should live in fear that the mere expression of an opinion and participation in public forums or processes is grounds for legal action.  We will never agree on every issue, but free speech and the First Amendment belong to us all.