Republican candidate suing another candidate for defamation

SANDUSKY — State Sen. candidate Melissa Ackison, running for an Ohio Senate District 26, and Ohio House District 88 candidate Gary Click are engaging in an unusual personal feud.That's despite the fact they aren't running against each other.Ackison has filed a lawsuit against Click, alleging he is defaming her by making false statements. Click says the lawsuit is a "publicity stunt."Ackison is seeking office for a state Senate district that includes Sandusky, Seneca, Crawford, Marion, Morrow, Wyandot and Union counties. Her probable opponent in the GOP primary for the seat is state Rep. Bill Reineke, R-Tiffin, an auto dealership owner who represents District 88 in the Ohio House.Click, pastor of Fremont Baptist Church, announced he's a candidate for the District 88 House seat, which includes all of Sandusky County and most of Seneca County.Ackison's lawsuit, filed Oct. 11 in Fremont and assigned to Common Pleas Judge Jeremiah Ray, claims shortly after she announced her race, Click "ambushed" her at the Republican Party booth at the Union County Fair in Marysville, Ackison's hometown.In front of her husband and her young children, "The Defendant stated to the Plaintiff that she was trash, that no one liked her, that she was a liar, a lunatic, a liberal, that she doesn't act Christian, that she was fake, and she was a phony," the lawsuit says.The lawsuit also claims Click has been telling people "that the Plaintiff is Anti-Semitic, that the Plaintiff is a Muslim Sympathizer, that the Plaintiff and/or her husband is in financial despair, that the Plaintiff and/or husband has filed bankruptcy, and that the Plaintiff is a criminal and/or the Plaintiff has a criminal record, all of which are false and untrue."In response, Click issued a statement ridiculing the lawsuit."This so-called lawsuit is laughable. It's a complete publicity stunt, and it's a sad commentary about her viability as a candidate. She wants me to pay her $25,000 because she says I opposed her and caused her to lose votes? If that's how things worked, Hillary Clinton would have sued me for 10 times that much. She's running for elected office, but is trying to criminalize those who disagree with her, in my case by making irresponsible and completely false allegations against someone who is not even her opponent," the statement said.It adds, "It is public knowledge that Melissa has aligned herself with Gary's challenger in the Republican primary. It is difficult to see this lawsuit as anything more than the misuse of the judicial system as a mere political stunt and a further attempt at intimidation. We are confident that the courts will recognize the same."Click, reached by phone, said he'd like to say more but his lawyers have ordered him not to talk about the lawsuit.Ackison says the lawsuit was a last resort after she and her lawyers tried for months to get Click to stop defaming her."He started receiving cease and desist notifications as early as April," she told the Register.The lawsuit states both Ackison and Click are public figures.When a public figure is claiming libel or defamation, a plaintiff typically has to prove "actual malice."In New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1964 public officials cannot recover damages for libel without proving that a statement was made with actual malice — defined as "with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not," according to an article in the online First Amendment Encyclopedia at Middle Tennessee State University.The Register contacted the Ohio Republican Party to ask what party officials, including chairman Jane Timken, think about the dispute.The party's spokesman, Evan Machan, said the party has no comment.Melissa AckisonGary Click