Sep 1, 2012 2 min read

The claims by an attorney for Fayette County Commissioner Angela M. Zimmerlink that there is a “treasure trove” of evidence showing she was retaliated against by Democrat commissioners are dramatic, but do not bolster her lawsuit, a county attorney argued in court papers.

Zimmerlink, the Republican commissioner, sued Commissioner Vincent Zapotosky and Vincent A. Vicites, the third commissioner who was serving with them when she filed the suit in 2010. In it, she claimed that the two Democrats retaliated against her because she was a frequent and outspoken critic of them and their actions by cutting her out of county business and through other means.

Her attorney last month filed paperwork opposing a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming that depositions and emails showed that Vicites and Zapotosky did things like engage in contract discussions, work with department heads to develop budgets and a technology director – all without involving her.

But county attorney Thomas P. McGinnis argued in paperwork filed Friday in federal court that none of that amounted to enough for Zimmerlink to sue.

“Contrary to plaintiff’s dramatic assertion that she has provided a ‘treasure trove’ of evidence in support of her claims, plaintiff’s purported evidence is nothing more than a ‘treasure trove’ of mischaracterizations of the record, inadmissible hearsay, speculation and an impermissible attempt to hold the defendant commissioners liable for their own protected exercise of First Amendment rights,” McGinnis wrote.”This is not a case where plaintiff was precluded from voting, ejected from a meeting, or precluded from expressing her views to the public or her constituents. Rather, plaintiff is seeking impermissible judicial intervention into political disputes between plaintiff and the defendant commissioners.”

For more information, read Sunday’s HeraldStandard.com.