Schweikert sued for defamation
Elijah Norton, former Republican candidate for Congress, filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Maricopa County Superior Court against Rep. David Schweikert for, among other charges, defamation for negative attacks during last year’s GOP primary campaign.
Norton is seeking financial compensation that would be determined at trial, which based on the classification of the case would be a minimum of $300,000.
The lawsuit claims, referring to Norton: “Plaintiff has suffered emotional distress, loss of reputation humiliation, inconvenience, stress, anxiety and actual damage in responding to Defendants’ tropes and misinformation and defamatory comments about Plaintiff Norton which resulted in demonstrable damage to the campaign for the US Congress as well.”
Besides Schweikert personally, the lawsuit names various people and organizations affiliated with the campaign, including political consultant Chris Baker and the Friends of David Schweikert Political Action Committee.
“If this lawsuit is successful, I think we can say goodbye to the First Amendment,” said Tim LaSota, the lawyer for Schweikert and the other defendants. “I think it is an outrageous abuse of the legal system to try to settle a political grievance by a loser candidate.”
Norton finished second in a three-person race during the Aug. 2 Republican primary in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District. The district includes Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Cave Creek, Fountain Hills and parts of Phoenix.
The heated GOP primary was filled with personal attacks from both sides. Norton, the founder and president of Veritas Global Protection, which offers services such as car warranties, put out a comic book mailer about Schweikert’s 11 ethics breaches involving campaign finance.
In turn, those affiliated with Schweikert attacked Norton’s businesses, alleging unscrupulous business practices. Those attacks and a characterization of Norton’s sexuality form the core of the suit’s complaints.
The lawsuit says: “To be clear, this suit is not an attempt to stifle legitimate free speech or of
information vital to the electorate in a free society . ... It is instead a suit to punish and prevent ‘over the top’ and malicious and deliberately false smears cast as facts that have no place or benefit to the public in any political campaign . ... If such conduct as is alleged herein is allowed to continue as the norm then God help us all.”
Dennis Wilenchik, the Phoenix attorney representing Norton, said: “In my nearly 45 years as a practicing attorney, I have never seen a more blatant example of defamation and defamation per se than with the campaign waged against Elijah Norton by Schweikert and his affiliates.”
“We should never be content, as an electorate, to allow blatant smear campaigns, as the one here, which sought to deter a young, fresh face like Elijah Norton, from entering public office through the use of such despicable smut intended to pass as voter information,” he added.
In response, Baker told The Arizona Republic: “This is nothing but a baseless lawsuit from a losing candidate with a long record of shady business practices. We are extremely confident that not only will we prevail, but that Norton will end up being ordered to pay our legal fees.”
This is the fifth lawsuit Schweikert and his affiliates are facing connected with the primary, which are all pending. One is by the photographer who took a photo of Norton at a bar that was used to insinuate that Norton was gay. Another is by the other man in the photograph with Norton whose image was blurred out. Two are from CarGuard, a company Norton founded eight years ago. Some customers have accused the company in lawsuits of using robocalls to sell car warranties and did not live up to their end of the business agreement. CarGuard rejects those allegations.
The company has settled lawsuits alleging the exploitation of seniors and people who are indigent.