Dear xxxx:

I challenged you to provide evidence to back up your claim that I cost the taxpayers money. You provided none. So it’s not surprising that your information is wrong.

There were indeed costs “related to” my legal proceedings. But the costs were not “because of” my proceedings. And yes there is a difference.

Council banning me from town hall in 2013 is an excellent example.

When I was banned I immediately took the town to court, asking the court to strike down the banning resolution for illegality.

Council should never have banned me. And once served with my application to quash, the town could have and should have just rescinded the banning resolution. Not banning me in the first place or dropping the ban immediately, either way the costs to the town would have been zero.

But instead, incredibly, the council members dug in their heels and chose to fight me. And $150,000 of taxpayers’ money later the council realized that the ban was illegal and rescinded the resolution, an admission that it was illegal. Then a Superior Court judge found that the resolution was illegal, and said it would have been quashed had it not been rescinded.

Council had launched an illegal and unjustified attack on me, and when I stood up to the bullies they used taxpayers’ money to try to knock me down. Not their own money – taxpayer’s money.

Council is responsible and accountable for the costs to the taxpayer, not me.

There is a similar story for every one of the proceedings I was involved in. In every case council had a choice, and they chose badly, at great cost to the taxpayers. In every case council is both responsible and accountable for the costs.

My advice to you, xxxx , is this; The next time you hear unsupported injurious allegations about me (or about anybody else), do some fact-checking before you decide whether or not to pile on.

Craig Gammie