Man seeks $666M, 50 cents in bogus ballot case
Involved in fight over ad distribution
The Shelby County Democratic Party and its supporters filed a lawsuit in September accusing two men and their companies of distributing deceptive election advertising in the form of bogus Democratic ballots.
Now one of the men named in that lawsuit has filed a counter-claim seeking damages of $666 million, plus fifty cents.
Though a court is unlikely to award so much money, the recent filing by M. Latroy Alexandria-williams has already led to the transfer of the case from Shelby County Chancery Court to federal court.
Alexandria-williams is acting as his own attorney in the case and asked for the change of court, which was granted Nov. 8.
One section in Alexandria-williams’ court filings is titled, “Motion for counter law suit 666 million & 50 cent and the fake Shelby County Democratic Party return back to it’s original when we were lidigement. Violation civil rights, violation of voter right, brivry, abuse of power obstruction of justice, interferig.” Williams’ argument is at times unclear, though in one section he says that the Democrats’ lawsuit aiming to stop distribution of his advertising has violated his First Amendment right to free speech.
Bruce Kramer, an attorney for the Democrats, said Alexandria-williams’ request for change of court, known as a removal, was granted automatically. Kramer said he’ll ask a federal judge to send the case back to Chancery Court. “We don’t think it’s a proper removal,” he said. “What will happen is the court’s going to determine whether it was a proper removal and then remand it state court.”
He said the lawsuit is “in a confused state right now.”
The case has to do with look-alike Democratic ballots that were widely circulated in the Oct. 3 Memphis municipal election season.
The Shelby County Democratic Party didn’t endorse candidates. But at least two private companies distributed lists of candidates that appeared to have been endorsed by Democrats.
That led to the filing of this fall’s lawsuit by the Shelby County Democratic Party and the campaign of City Council candidate John Marek, who were later joined by the Shelby County Young Democrats.
The lawsuit named Greg Grant and his Greater Memphis Democratic Club as well as M. Latroy Alexandria-williams and his Shelby County Democratic Club.
After hearing arguments, Chancery Court Judge William B. Acree issued a temporary restraining order against the private companies at 11:44 a.m. on Election Day.
However, people continued to distribute the ballots for hours after the judge’s order, according to research by The Commercial Appeal.
Grant has not filed a written legal response to the lawsuit, though his attorney Julian Bolton said in an October interview that he believed his client complied with the judge’s order.
Alexandria-williams said he complied with the order as well.
The outcome of the case could affect political advertising for future elections in Memphis.
Marek, who lost his election this year, says he hopes the court will award severe penalties and effectively end the practice of candidates paying money to appear on ballots that mimic Democratic party endorsements.
A review by The Commercial Appeal found that numerous candidates, including the campaign of Mayor Jim Strickland, had paid for a place on the Greater Memphis Democratic Club ballot. Strickland was among several candidates who said that they feared if they didn’t pay for a place on the ballot, their opponents would.
The newspaper also learned that the company Caissa Public Strategy, which was running campaigns for several candidates, paid campaign workers to distribute the Greater Memphis Democratic Club ballot as well as a genuine Republican Party ballot.
Some candidates that Caissa supported were represented on both ballots.
Some former Caissa temp workers said the company urged them to keep distributing the Greater Memphis Democratic Club ballot even after the judge’s order.
Caissa’s CEO, Brian Stephens, said Caissa had no reason to halt distribution of the ballot because the organization had not been served with a copy of the injunction. Caissa was not named in the Democrats’ lawsuit against distribution of the ballots.
A Chancery Court date in the case had been originally scheduled for Wednesday.
However, the judge had a medical issue and the Wednesday date would have only been a phone call to set a future hearing date, probably in January, W. Aaron Hall, Clerk and Master of the Chancery Court, said early this month.
Then on Nov. 8, Alexandria-williams filed his request to move the case to federal court and succeeded.
His counter-claim repeatedly mentions U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-memphis, who is not a party to this fall’s lawsuit but with whom Alexandria-williams was involved years earlier in a similar ballot lawsuit.
Williams argues Cohen should pay him $50 million and that various other people and companies owe him damages, too, including media outlets such as The Commercial Appeal, which he said should pay him $150 million. He also demands that the people involved in a scheme against him should be sentenced to between 10 and 50 years in prison, and that all lawyers never practice law again in the state of Tennessee.
A scheduling conference in the new federal case is set for Dec. 17 before U.S. District Judge Sheryl H. Lipman.
Investigative reporter Daniel Connolly welcomes tips and comments from the public. Reach him at 529-5296, daniel.connolly@commercialappeal.com, or on Twitter at @danielconnolly.