On Election Eve, Mount Pleasant village president challenger and Foxconn critic files defamation lawsuit
One day before a pivotal local election that could determine the future of the sprawling Foxconn site, a defamation lawsuit has been filed against Village President Dave DeGroot, who is fighting to hold onto his seat.
Kelly Gallaher, long-time Foxconn and village critic, who is challenging DeGroot, filed the suit Monday in Racine County Circuit Court against DeGroot and campaign manager Sam Wahlen over comments made during a board meeting in February and on social media involving her affiliation with a defunct business.
DeGroot publicly said Gallaher is "unfit to hold public office" because of her involvement in the Senior Campus at Campbell Woods LLC. He said Gallaher will receive money from an upcoming sale of the business, which was "foreclosed on them due to numerous missed loan payments and in addition owed $70,000 in back taxes."
Gallaher has repeatedly said she is not a business partner and has never been involved in any board meetings, votes or business decisions of Senior Campus at Campbell Woods, LLC. She was gifted one share of the business.
On March 15, a cease and desist notice was forwarded to DeGroot and Wahlen by Gallaher’s Racine attorney Anne Cohen of Devine Hahn Attorneys at Law. According to the complaint, DeGroot and Wahlen have continued to make false claims about her.
"(DeGroot) has fabricated these malicious statements in a desperate attempt to deceive voters," Gallaher said in a statement. "(He) has been negotiating for the purchase of property owned by the LLC since last June. He knows exactly who the business partners are. I will not be bullied by him.”
Wahlen said all he has done is volunteer for a friend running for a local, non-partisan office and accused Gallaher has been attacking him.
"It’s unfortunate that Ms. Gallaher would stoop to such low levels," Wahlen said. "It’s sad to see her go after someone just because they didn’t support her candidacy. It also frightens me to think about how this represents her potential role as a Village President.”
Gallaher is seeking compensatory and punitive damages and wants the court to order DeGroot and Wahlen to retract the statements.
Gallaher launched her campaign in January and rallied three other challengers - Kim Mahoney, Travis Yanke and Eric Martinez - who will all be on the April 4 ballot challenging incumbents DeGroot, John Hewitt, Nancy Washburn and Ram Bhatia.
This is not the first lawsuit Gallaher has been involved with involving the village.
In March 2022, village attorney Chris Smith filed a lawsuit against Gallaher claiming her “hundreds” of negative posts on social media about village policies, politics, officials and employees caused him "emotional distress." A judge dismissed the case and Gallaher filed a complaint against him with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission.
But Milwaukee attorney Michael Maistelman, who specializes in elections, questioned the timing of this lawsuit, saying Wisconsin law "prohibits anyone from knowingly making a false representation about a candidate which is intended to or tends to affect voting at an election."
"Based upon the timing of the lawsuit, and the person that filed it, it was most likely brought to affect voting at an election," Maistelman said.
Maistelman if any of the allegations in the lawsuit are false, it would be a violation of the law with criminal penalties.
Corrinne Hess can be reached at chess@gannett.com or on Twitter @CorriHess
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Lawsuit filed against Mount Pleasant president by challenger
