Tulsa City Councilor Eric Gomez' attorney sent out this letter threatening to sue Julie Hall and any one working in concert with her for defamation.  Our attorney sent out this letter in response.  The threat was prompted by Who Owns Tulsa?'s role in coordinating a recall petition against Councilor Gomez and related criticisms of his actions as a public official.  

The release of these letters is in part a response to the threats against a group of citizens who reported a possible ethics violation regarding two city councilors.  One of our concerns is that the initial response from the City Council included the implied threat of legal action.  Unfortunately it appears that the biggest mistake citizens can make is to give their name rather than reporting their concerns anonymously. 

As citizens, we have First Amendment rights.  These rights are so important that with respect to public officials and their acts, Oklahoma law protects these communications unless they falsely impute a crime to the official criticized.  Under federal law, speech concerning public officials is actionable only if it is false, defamatory, and made with actual malice. 

Although Julie Hall was the direct recipient of the threat, it wasn’t limited to her.  Councilor Gomez threatened to sue “any and all persons or entities acting in concert” with her.  This could include the officers of Who Owns Tulsa?, any one who has attended a meeting, or any person or business who has written a check.  It could also include every citizen who signed the recall petition. 

The Gomez letter was issued after the recall was denied, after we had announced that no other petition effort would be pursued, and after Councilor Gomez stated publicly that he hoped we could put it behind us.

Councilor Gomez is gearing up for an election year. We suggest he focus his energies on representing his constituents rather than on suing them. We encourage all who live in Tulsa Council District 4 to ask your Councilor if you too are at risk of a lawsuit if you criticize his official conduct.

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.