Amy Ancel Threatens Lawsuit
Amy Ancel (RTM District 3) threatened Water Rat parents Adrian Bowles and Ronald Wimer with a libel lawsuit on Wednesday (3/5/08). She wrote to Adrian on Westport Now:
Consider this my notice to you and Mr. Wimer to cease and desist libeling me in this website, the newspapers, the Water Rats Parents’ Club website “Mahackeno Now,” Politicus Machamux and any other publications you and Mr. Wimer author or have access to. My next notice will come from my attorneys.
Adrian and Ronald were menaced after they questioned Ms. Ancel’s right to place anti-Mahackeno signs on state property and town parks. [DOT regulations prevent you from putting signs along state highways. You can put political signs in Westport parks if you request permission. But neither Ms. Ancel nor Y Downtown made a request.]
What is going on here? Are voters in Westport no longer free to question their elected officials? Has our town sunk to the level of Moscow, where politicians conspire to silence their critics?
George Orwell once wrote, “If liberty means anything, it means the right to tell people what they don’t want to hear.” His words should be committed to memory by all elected officials – even at the local level. If they don’t, we may find ourselves living on an animal farm.
Comment by Ronald Wimer
March 6, 2008 @ 10:00 am
I told the Assistant Town Attorney yesterday morning that I was chagrined by Amy Ancel’s threats, which I thought were inappropriate (particularly since they were made on a medium that is owned by the Town’s chief executive). I was rebuffed and told that Ms. Ancel’s actions were a private matter. I disagree.
It is a public matter when an elected official threatens voters, who have criticized the official’s failure to follow the rules regulating political signs. It is a matter that has serious legal implications and it is a matter that could turn into a circus. (Imagine the headline: “Westport Town Councilwoman Sues Voters.”)
I realize that nobody in Westport seems to have much influence over Ms. Ancel. Nonetheless, I believe that somebody in Town Hall must explain to her that Americans have a constitutional right to criticize elected officials, and that she should refrain from menacing her critics with libel lawsuits. If she doesn’t, she will be on a very slippery slope. If she falls, she may drag our town’s reputation down with her.
Pingback by Matthew Mandell’s April Fool’s Fish « Politicus Machamux
April 3, 2008 @ 1:41 pm
[...] politicians are not new in town (look at Amy Ancel’s recent threat to sue a couple of YMCA members), so Mr. Mandell’s reaction was not surprising. But it is interesting to [...]
Pingback by Mahackeno Now » Harvard Law School Notes Amy Ancel’s Threat
June 3, 2008 @ 10:09 pm
[...] Amy Ancel (RTM District 3) threatened to sue Westport residents Adrian Bowles and Ronald Wimer. (Click to read entry from [...]