LOCAL

Local pastor running for state rep sued by senate candidate Melissa Ackison

Craig Shoup
The News-Messenger
Melissa Ackison, state senate candidate, is suing pastor Gary Click.

FREMONT - A Republican woman running for the state senate is suing a Fremont pastor running for state representative for defamation of character following a verbal incident in August during the Union County Fair.

Melissa Ackison, who is running for the senate's 26th district, filed the suit seeking more than $25,000 in damages. The 26th district covers Crawford, Marion, Morrow, Sandusky, Seneca, Union, and Wyandot counties.

The details 

In her lawsuit, Ackison claims Gary Click "ambushed" her at the Republican Party booth at the Union County Fair, calling her "trash" and saying that no one liked her, that she was a liar, a lunatic, a liberal, "doesn't act Christian," and that she was fake and phony, according to the lawsuit.

"This goes well beyond political warfare," Ackison said. "You can challenge me on policy, you can hate me personally, but you can't ruin my life."

Ackison said Click, who is running for the Ohio House 88th district seat and is a member of the Ohio Republican Central Committee, is trying to influence donors and the Republican and Tea Parties to defeat Ackison.

"It's made me question religiously," Ackison said. "I believe in Jesus, I'm still a  follower, a Christian, but it's made me question how many people are in these roles leading."

Click denied using his position as a pastor and Republican leader to influence the election, calling Ackison's lawsuit a publicity stunt.

"She's invented the whole thing," he said.

A smear attempt? 

Click said the only thing he shared about Ackison was that she had police reports filed against her by former campaign staff.

“This so-called lawsuit is laughable. It’s a complete publicity stunt, and it’s a sad commentary about her viability as a candidate," Click said in a released statement. "She wants me to pay her $25,000 because she says I opposed her and caused her to lose votes? If that’s how things worked, Hillary Clinton would have sued me for 10 times that much."

Ackison said Click has been trying to smear her since she announced in April that she was running for the Ohio senate.

Ackison and Click had a verbal spat in Marysville at the Union County Fair this summer, and she said Click has been going around to various groups with a packet of information on Ackison that contains lies about her.

Gary Click, pastor of Fremont Baptist Temple, is being sued by state senate candidate Melissa Ackison.

"While I categorically deny Ackison's inflammatory and false allegations, even if they were true, political speech is not criminal in America," Click said. 

Click said Ackison is trying to turn those who disagree with her into criminals.

"In my case, by making irresponsible and completely false allegations against someone who is not even her opponent," Click said in the statement. "It is difficult to see this lawsuit as anything more than the misuse of the judicial system as a mere political stunt and a further attempt at intimidation. We are confident that the courts will recognize the same."

An Aug. 4 Licking County Sheriff's Officer report states that Ackison sent threatening messages to a former campaign adviser, Joseph Gergley.

Ackison has since filed a lawsuit against Gergley.

Click announced in August his intentions of running for State Rep. Bill Reineke's 88th District seat in 2020 as Reineke seeks a state senate seat against Ackison. Reineke and Ackison will face off in a March 17, 2020 Republican primary. 

Click, as a member of the Republican Central Committee, presides over the 26th district.

In April, Ackison filed a cease and desist order of defamation against Click, claiming Click engaged in a campaign to vilify Ackison after she announced her bid for state senate.

Ackison told the News-Messenger she believes Click is "stacking the deck" against her in her race against Reineke. 

"That's not how a republic works," Ackison said.

The cease and desist document claims Click uttered false, destructive and defamatory statements about Ackison in meetings and telephone calls with conservative leaders and Republican party officials, faith coalitions and other politically aligned organizations throughout the state.

"Your statements untruthfully portray my client (Ackison) as an anti-Semite after a March 8 Facebook post of a YouTube video called 'The Day Israel Attacked America.' You have also referred to her as a 'Muslim sympathizer' implying without any other reasonable interpretation that her outreach efforts in the large Somali community constitutes aiding and abetting disloyal and dangerous persons," the lawsuit states.

But Click said he's never called Ackison an anti-Semite. 

"I just share some (of Ackison's social media) posts," Click said.

In a response to the cease and desist request, Click said his concerns regarding Ackison's attitude towards Jewish people are derived from her social media posts, which he called deeply troubling and offensive.

Click said he filed his own cease and desist order. He said in his statement that he has not been served with the Ackison lawsuit, but the Sandusky County Clerk of Courts confirmed that the civil case between the two political candidates was filed.

Ackison said she has lost donors for her campaign and accused Click of attempting to derail her campaign by not allowing Ackison to speak at a July 4 Tea Party rally in Fremont.

She said Click has been telling people she has filed for bankruptcy and is a criminal due to harassment complaints made by Ackison's former campaign staff.

"I have not spread anything. I don't know about her finances and I don't care about her finances," Click said. "And I just shared with people a police report. She's making stuff up."

Ackison said at two possible supporters pulled donations as false information about her spread.

"He's using his pastoral status to solidify these things as truth and none of them are true," she said. "He holds all the county Republican events and Tea Party events there (at his church)."

Ackison said she believes Click is skewing the ability of voters to have access to her.

As the two candidates continue to spar, both have been cut off from Republican Party, according to an email sent by Rob Secaur, the Executive Director of the Ohio Republican Party.

"Per our conversation last week, Gary Click will no longer receive party services for the duration of the primary. I will also use this email to inform you that your campaign will no longer receive party services for the duration of the primary," Secaur wrote in an Aug. 14 email to Ackison.

cshoup@gannett.com

419-334-1035

Twitter: @CraigShoupNH