In a motion filed Tuesday in St. Charles County Circuit Court, Ronald Brockmeyer, attorney for First Capital Publications and Photography and First Capital News, asked for dismissal of a third-party suit filed against them by political operative and blogger Jeff Roe.
Roe, the former chief of staff for Sixth District Congressman Sam Graves, filed the lawsuit against the companies after he was sued for libel by St. Charles County Commissioner Joe Brazil. Roe also filed a countersuit against Brazil.
Brazil filed a motion to dismiss Aug. 6. Brazil filed his lawsuit againt Roe after last-minute attacks were launched against Brazil in Roe's blog, The Source, just before Brazil's state senate primary loss in August 2006.
Brazil's lawsuit against Roe was first revealed in the O'Fallon Watchdog and The Turner Report.
On The Source, Roe wrote two items about Brazil in the week before the Republican primary. The first, on Aug. 1, said:
Then Senator Jon Dolan was phoned many times by Brazil's constituents as they complained about a “drunk and rowdy crowd” at the New Melle Festival. Imagine the shock when Dolan came to find out that Brazil was the ringleader of the drunken ruffians. But Party Boy Brazil's escapades don’t stop there. During one of his golf events, Brazil allowed women in attendance to discard their clothing and go topless.
Is this what Missouri needs in one of its Senators? The Source thinks not. Perhaps Joe Brazil should examine his own past before he attempts to disguise himself as a Republican. Brazil has no business even thinking about running a campaign against incumbent Scott Rupp. Rupp is what Missouri needs in the State Senate. He is a responsible, strong, family man who Brazil could learn a lot from.
Roe's Aug. 4 post led directly to the lawsuit:
According to www.darwinawards.com, in 1982, Brazil was attempting to pull off a senior class prank at McCluer North High School in Florissant, Missouri. Brazil plan was to deposit thousands of pounds of sand into the school's faculty parking lot. Brazil even owned a dump truck that could be used to aid in the prank.
After quite a few beers, Brazil and his buddies loaded up the dump truck with sand and drove to the school. One of Brazil's friends, Norval Pierce sat on top of the bed of the truck while Brazil dumped the sand. Brazil drove slowly while dumping attempting to adequately spread the sand in the parking lot. As Brazil was driving the truck jumped forward, throwing Pierce through the frame of the truck. Not realizing what had happened, Brazil continued to drive while drunk and dumping sand. Brazil proceeded to crush Pierce under the truck.
So now we have another instance of Brazil’s
irresponsibility and not owning up to his mistakes. What else do we need to know Joe?
Roe's lawsuit against First Capital News came because of a March 17 post, titled "Professional Character Assassins Brought in for Election," published four days before the Brazile lawsuit was filed. The post, written by Tony Brockmeyer, started with a subhead that read, "Out-of-Town Goon Squad Coming to St. Charles," then began:
Reminiscent of something out of the Sopranos, the City of St. Charles has been infiltrated by hired hit men. The difference is these hit men won’t be using automatic weapons and trying to kill their marks. They are hired to destroy lives and the credibility of those who dare challenge the established power in St. Charles.
Brockmeyer alleged that millionaire developers in St. Charles brought Roe and John Hancock, author of the Missouri Pulse blog, in to keep the status quo from changing in the city, including the removal of city council members "who stood up against the special interests in favor of the residents of St. Charles."
Brockmeyer quoted material from Kansas City Star profiles of Roe concerning Roe's campaign tactics. Close to the end of the post, Brockmeyer wrote about Joe Brazil's unsuccessful campaign for state senate:
St. Charles is not new territory for Roe. He was brought in by big money interests in the August 2006 primary when St. Charles Councilman Joe Brazil faced off against Scott Rupp in the Republican primary for a state senate seat.
Brazil told the First Capitol News he believed Roe to be the worst type of political operative. "He told lies, misrepresented facts and brought up an incident that happened when I was 18 years old and then lied about it," Brazil said.
The post ended with this information:
The First Capitol News contacted Roe and he denied any involvement with St. Charles politics. An individual like Roe usually does not want anyone to know he is involved until the campaign is over.
Roe is being represented by David Marcus of the law firm of Graves, Bartle, and Marcus, the law firm headed by former U. S. Attorney Todd Graves.
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