Heidi Campbell |
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An Oak Hill woman, overwhelmingly elected Tuesday to that city’s Board of Commissioners, has subpoenaed the mayor, municipal judge and several others over what she calls a “smear campaign” by an anonymous blog known as Oak Hill Tennessee Gazette.
Heidi Campbell, who formed the anti-commercial development group Save Oak Hill, ran second in the city balloting with 1,012 votes. Leading the totals was Ron Coles (1,075). Running far behind were Nicole Hobson (281) and Wade Hill (224). They will be sworn into office on June 26.
Campbell filed a Davidson County General Sessions Court complaint against a “John Doe” for false light invasion of privacy, libel and defamation of character as a result of the anonymous attacks. That case has been referred to a Circuit Court.
As a part of the complaint, she subpoenaed current Mayor Austin McMullen and his wife, Kelly; former Mayor Tom Alsup Jr. and his father, Tom Alsup Sr.; current City Judge Tom Lawless; and records from internet services Google and its subsidiary Blogspot, Facebook, and Microsoft Outlook. She also subpoenaed an unidentified private citizen from whose Facebook account a screenshot was taken.
“I’m positive we’ll find the source – they left a digital footprint,” said Campbell, who doesn’t believe Mayor McMullen is behind the attacks, but thinks he knows who is.
At a June 6 hearing, defense attorneys filed a motion to quash the subpoenas because the recipients had not been given sufficient notice of a subpoena.
“You need at least seven days notice when you file a subpoena, and they only gave us three, so we moved to quash,” said attorney Robert Delaney, who represents the Alsups.
He called the Campbell’s court case “a balance between a person’s First Amendment rights to anonymity and the rights of people who claim they have been damaged by rogue comments.”
Representatives from Google, Facebook and Microsoft Outlook failed to appear at that hearing and have not yet responded to the subpoena.
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| Oak Hill Mayor Austin McMullen |
General Sessions Court Judge Michael Mondelli approved the motion to quash, but also determined the case would be better suited for Circuit Court, which has full right to discovery.
A Davidson County General Sessions Court official confirmed Wednesday that Mondelli signed the order to transfer the case to Circuit Court. A court date has not yet been set.
Campbell claims the Gazette accuses her of polluting Radnor Lake with sewer waste from her Otter Creek Road home; operating as a building contractor without a license; moving into the unfinished Otter Creek house before a certificate of occupancy had been issued; for failing to appear in court on allegations of zoning law violations; and for campaigning under her maiden name instead of her married name, Pflaum, to prevent voters from connecting her to those allegations.
Campbell told Brentwood Home Page her home has a Metro-approved septic system and her water supply connects to Metro lines on Franklin Road and thus flows away from the Radnor Lake Watershed. She said she registered as a candidate under her maiden name because she wants voters to identify her with her family surname. Campbell’s father is a well-known cardiologist and co-founder of a local heart institute.
Campbell claims she has not operated as an unlicensed building contractor because the construction in question was performed on her own home and therefore is not illegal.
She said her mother, Audrey Campbell, was the person actually cited over a connector road Heidi Campbell built to her mother’s home next door. Engineer Andrew Stone appeared before Oak Hill's Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals on Audrey Campbell’s behalf about the zoning matter.
The Gazette also published a screenshot from Campbell’s Facebook account that singles out one of her “liked” groups – “Secular Humanists” – and accuses her of wanting to “eliminate all churches and schools from Oak Hill.” The blog operators also mailed four “investigative report” postcards on the accusations to every Oak Hill home except those of Campbell and her family.
Oak Hill is a residential-only, low-density municipality located within Metro Nashville. In the past year, the possibility of commercial rezoning has had most residents up in arms.
On Nov. 21, 2013, McMullen, Vice Mayor Jennifer Claxton and Commissioner Kyle Felts passed an ordinance that would allow proposals for commercial zoning within the city. Citing a lack of communication on the officials’ part, residents rallied in opposition before the Dec. 2 final vote and the ordinance was withdrawn. Claxton and Felts did not seek re-election.
“I just don’t like the leadership imposing an agenda on a section of town that didn’t want it,” said Maria Muedas, a 17-year resident of Oak Hill. “The process has been sneaky and a little shady.”
Subsequent Oak Hill 2020 meetings, intended to garner citizen’s vision toward the city’s future, drew vocal crowds opposed to commercial development, except for a handful of residents who favor such development to help replenish the city’s depleted reserve fund.
Campbell and Coles, who declared a “no commercial-no new taxes” stance in their campaigns, will serve four-year terms. McMullen’s term ends in 2016. Oak Hill’s city charter requires newly elected commissioners to vote on a new mayor and vice mayor after each municipal election.
“Obviously the most important thing is that the city is run well and taken care of,” Campbell said Wednesday. “Personal issues shouldn’t get in the way.”
Campbell is not looking for restitution in the court case – she just wants to know who is behind the attacks.
“We want people to know you can’t always get away with attacking someone like this and since we think the city is involved, we want the people in the community to know who the bad actors are who are doing this.”
Staff writer Jonathan Romeo covers the city of Brentwood. Contact him at jonathan@brentwoodhomepage.com.
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