Lawsuit resurrects political skirmish

A private investigator sues a former Clearwater commissioner she once tried to oust from office over a document she says is fraudulent.

By DEBORAH O'NEIL

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 27, 2001

CLEARWATER -- A 7-year-old political battle between former Clearwater commissioner Fred Thomas and one of his critics that went to state election officials twice has surfaced once again.

This time, the fight is in the courthouse.

Lindsay Colton, a private investigator who in 1994 led a group that tried to remove Thomas from office, has sued the millionaire Clearwater businessman. The suit accuses him of maliciously trying to prosecute her before the Florida Elections Commission using a fraudulent document.

In an unusual move, Colton is also suing the Tampa lawyers and law firm that represented Thomas during their past feud, claiming the lawyers knowingly presented the Florida Elections Commission with a fraudulent document to get Colton in trouble.

"This is the first time I have seen a lawsuit like this," said Ben Hill, the Tampa lawyer representing the Glenn Rasmussen Fogarty & Hooker law firm along with lawyers Michael Hooker and Guy McConnell, denying any fraud took place. "I think she is going to have a very difficult time trying to establish her case."

The lawsuit filed earlier this month in Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court reaches deep into Clearwater politics. It retells the convoluted struggle between Thomas and Colton.

Colton's attorney, David Plante of Merkle & Magri, said she is seeking unspecified legal fees and compensation for the pain and suffering she experienced because of Thomas' false allegations.

"It's horrendous," Plante said. "Someone tried to intimidate and coerce a political opponent into submission through the political process."

Thomas said the lawsuit surprised him and has no merit.

"I think their actions are malicious," he said.

It began in 1994 when Thomas faced an organized effort to oust him from office. Colton was chairwoman of the Committee to Recall Fred Thomas until she withdrew from the committee Sept. 4, according to her lawsuit.

Two days later, Thomas sued another critic active in the committee, Ron Stuart, "individually and as a representative of the Committee to Recall Fred Thomas," trying to stop the recall effort. Thomas alleged in his lawsuit that the committee broke laws related to campaign expenditures.

In March 1995, just before a city election, Colton spent her own money to take out a political advertisement in the St. Petersburg Times urging voters to reject two candidates many thought would be Thomas' political allies.

Later that year, Thomas filed a complaint with the Florida Elections Commission claiming Colton had violated election expenditure laws when she ran her ad. The Division of Elections dismissed the case in May 1996 after determining Colton had not violated the law because her actions were not willful.

Thomas, who by then had left office, appealed the decision. Thomas contended that Colton knew about the election laws because she had been chairwoman of the committee he sued for alleged violations of campaign expenditure laws.

In her lawsuit, Colton says Thomas and his layers tried to bolster that position by attaching to their appeal a copy of the original lawsuit filed against Stuart. But the lawsuit they attached had been fraudulently altered to make it appear that the Committee to Recall Fred Thomas had been sued, Colton's lawsuit alleges.

That is a critical point, said Plante, Colton's lawyer. Thomas and his lawyers, Plante said, tried to make it appear as if Colton had been part of the original lawsuit and therefore must have knowingly violated the campaign expense laws.

"The significance was, who was sued?" Plante said. "Lindsay Colton never was sued."

In August 1996, the Florida Elections Commission reversed the earlier finding that there was no probable cause Colton had wilfully violated the expense laws. Colton requested a hearing and hired Merkle to fight the charges.

For the next year, according to Colton's lawsuit, depositions were taken. In April 1998, the Florida Elections Commission formally dismissed Thomas' appeal, finding there was insufficient evidence of willfulness to charge Colton with violating the law.

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