Seeking deterrence: School Board member files defamation suit over 2022 campaign texts
Lisa Miller, who overcame false claims during the 2022 campaign to earn another term on the Polk County School Board, has filed a defamation lawsuit against two candidates and their political consultant.
Miller filed the civil suit June 12, naming as defendants her 2022 opponent, Jill Sessions, a candidate in another district, Terry Clark, and James Earl Dunn Jr., a Texas-based consultant who worked on their campaigns. Miller seeks damages of more than $50,000.
The suit centers on anonymous text messages sent in June and July of 2022, falsely claiming that she and her husband, Robert Miller, were under criminal investigation.
“Lisa Miller is the subject of a criminal investigation relating to awarded Polk School District construction contracts linked to her construction company operator husband,” read one of the texts sent to voters in Polk County.
In 2022, Miller campaigned for a second term in District 7. She and Sessions emerged in a three-way primary race, and Miller then defeated Sessions by 11.2 percentage points in a runoff election.
Both Sessions and Clark, who unsuccessfully challenged Kay Fields in District 5, hired Dunn as a campaign consultant. Dunn had been recommended by leaders of Citizens Defending Freedom, a conservative political group based in Polk County.
Dunn pled guilty on seven counts of violating Florida’s text message disclosure requirements, a first-degree misdemeanor. He received a sentence in February of 11 months of probation.
Both Sessions and Clark reported paying Dunn $7,500 for consulting services during the 2022 campaign. Investigators found that Clark sent an email during the campaign saying that Dunn had directed more 20,000 campaign text messages “all over the county.”
During the investigation of Dunn, Sessions said she knew that Dunn had sent mass text messages for her campaign but did not know the content of them. Clark told investigators that he did not know who had sent the texts falsely accusing Miller.
The suit cites an investigative report from State Attorney Brian Haas saying that when Sessions was presented with a copy of the text messages and asked if Dunn had sent them, she responded, “He said he had somebody send it."
Miller, a Lakeland resident, said that Sessions amplified the false claims by asking her at public candidate forums if she was under criminal investigation.
Dunn, Sessions and Clark did not respond to voicemails left by The Ledger.
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As a direct result of the text messages, Lisa and Robert Miller “have been damaged in the form of evident reputational harm, lost business, actual damages, and mental anguish,” the suit states.
Miller filed the suit in Circuit Court for the 10th Judicial Circuit. The case has been assigned to Judge Jennifer Swenson.
“Leaders in this community need to draw moral lines in civic life and politics,” Miller said in an emailed statement. “This (suit) is my family's way of drawing that line.”
She added: “Political candidates hired a career criminal from Texas to lie about and defame a fellow citizen of Polk County for the sake of their own selfish ambitions. There should be consequences for both the candidates and the criminal who did their dirty work for them – and still lost.”
Dunn pled guilty in 2008 to submitting fraudulent claims against the federal government. As owner and operator of Rehab Specialist Inc., Dunn received contracts from the Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services to provide vocational rehabilitation training to people with mental and physical disabilities but failed to provide the services, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Clark wrote in an email during the 2022 campaign that Dunn was also “working for” Rick Nolte, who ousted incumbent Sarah Fortney in the District 3 School Board race. Nolte did not report directing any campaign money to Dunn.
The Polk County Republican Party endorsed and promoted Sessions, Clark, Nolte and another candidate, Justin Sharpless, in the nonpartisan School Board races. Citizens Defending Freedom hosted Dunn for a podcast interview early in the campaigns, during which he bragged about having a 25-0 record in Texas school board races.
After Dunn was charged over the anonymous text messages, CDF founder Steve Maxwell said his organization had nothing to do with the attacks and said he was “as upset with (Dunn) as anybody.”
Sessions and Clark have retained former state legislator Anthony Sabatini to defend them. Sabatini also has ties to CDF. He is leading a lawsuit against the Polk County School Board in which the group claims the school district has violated its own policies and state law on handling challenges to library books.
Sabatini said that CDF is not involved with the defense of Sessions and Clark. He said he does not know Dunn and isn’t representing him.
“I think it's a frivolous lawsuit, and obviously the standard for defamation against public officials is exceedingly high,” Sabatini said. “She (Miller) knows that. Their counsel knows that. And this is just a PR stunt, in my opinion.”
Miller said her main objective is deterring other candidates from engaging in false and anonymous campaign attacks.
Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Lisa Miller files lawsuit over attack texts during 2022 campaign
