Lawyer Retained For 40 Petitioners Fined for Seeking to Remove Supervisors.

FROM THE RICHMOND-TIMES DISPATCH
JAN. 30, 2009

GLOUCESTER RESIDENTS FINED FOR SEEKING TO REMOVE SUPERVISORS

Cory Nealon - Daily Press

GLOUCESTER -- Virginia Beach attorney L. Steven Emmert has agreed to represent the 40 Gloucester residents who were fined after unsuccessfully petitioning to remove four county supervisors from office.

Emmert is expected to file an appeal on behalf of the petitioners, who were fined $2,000 each.

"This is obviously a matter of significant public concern," Emmert said this week. "These people spoke out and they were punished for it."

Substitute Circuit Judge Westbrook J. Parker ordered Gloucester County to pay $129,321.53 of the legal bills accrued by the supervisors: Teresa L. Altemus, Michelle R. Ressler, Robert A. "Bobby" Crewe and Gregory Woodard.

Paarker also ordered the petitioners, who he said abused the judicial system for political purposes, to reimburse the county $80,000. His reasoning: that a majority of Gloucester residents did not support the petitions and therefore, should not have to pay the supervisor's legal costs.

Emmert said he is considering two angles for the appeal.

One, that the ruling violates citizens' First Amendment rights to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Second, that the petitioners gathered nearly 6,000 signatures in good faith, something Parker contested.

Emmert expects to be hired by week's end He did not say who would pay his fees.

Petitioners previously said they didn't have the money to hire and attorney. Garr Johnson, one of the several petitioners who has acted as a spokesman for the group, said only that a "group of concerned citizens" has agreed to employ Emmert.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/article/GLOU30_20090129-221017/192786/