Statement by Cal Beverly, editor and publisher of The Citizen:

Though he puts a distorting spin worthy of Bill Clinton on his statement about dismissing the libel lawsuit against The Citizen, former Peachtree City Attorney Jim Webb basically admits what was evident from the start: He has no case.

Mr. Webb said to my face that he miscalculated in filing the suit against the paper, me and letter writer Steve Brown. Webb said he thought the suit would stop us publishing articles and letters unfavorable to him and his law firm. Obviously, his intimidation tactics failed.

In his statement he attributes the whole controversy to a “plot” motivated by “ulterior motives and political aspirations.” While there may be all sorts of plots and political motivations out there, The Citizen and I were not party to any of them.

We simply published some letters to the editor about the appearance of a conflict of interest involving City Attorney Jim Webb and his foray into the banking business with local developers who either had sued or were in the process of suing the very city Webb was supposed to be defending.

Had Webb so chosen, we would have published any letters written by Webb explaining or defending his choices. He chose instead to attack with a lawsuit, which his partner Rick Lindsey promised would be long and expensive. In doing so, Webb attacked one of this country's fundamental freedoms embodied in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

His attack was doomed to fail, as he should have known from the beginning. But he and his law firm — who make their living by suing people — decided to punish the letter writer and this paper for daring to question the propriety of this public official's actions in regard to a public matter.

They intended to make us pay for expensive attorneys to defend our basic right to freedom of the press and freedom of expression contained in an opinion in a letter from a private citizen about the operation of his city government.

So far Webb's calculated attack on freedom has cost this paper and its insurance carrier more than $6,000, and has cost Brown an unknown amount.

What Mr. Webb's statement, published elsewhere in this issue in its entirety, fails to mention is that this paper has filed a countersuit against Webb and his law firm for engaging in abusive litigation. Our countersuit charges Webb and firm employed what is called a slap suit to deter us from exercising our First Amendment rights. We are currently considering whether to continue that counterclaim to compel Webb and his firm to pay for our attorneys' fees and damages. That decision will be made in the next several days.

In his statement, Webb never addresses the central issue: The propriety of his starting a business with developers who have sued or are suing Webb's client at the time, Peachtree City.

I note that Webb decided to dismiss his lawsuit within days of our putting him and his partners under oath in scheduled depositions in connection with this suit. The dismissal also comes just days after we filed open records requests with Peachtree City, the state Insurance and Banking Board and law enforcement agencies concerning past investigations into Webb's business practices.

If I could draw any conclusions, I would say that Webb and firm are trying to get out while the getting is good. — Cal Beverly