The Evers Mirror

You have to wonder how some people can look themselves in the mirror every day without shame after printing outright lies about those they dislike in an effort to damage their reputations and diminish the value of the dissenting opinions and facts which hold folks accountable.

When we saw Mark Evers dare a libel lawsuit last week with a letter in both the Troy Record and Sand Lake Advertiser in which he maliciously proclaimed his nemesis, CB Smith, held a no show job in the town, right under his nose, the first reaction was "just how stupid is this guy?"

The answer is apparently very stupid from both a legal and common sense perspective. First the legal side. Libel suits are usually defended based on the facts or truth which must be provable by a fair preponderance of the evidence. As Supervisor, Evers had to personally sign each check issued to Smith and all town employees and had to certify the payroll as correct. Simply put, if Evers certifies a payroll, he can be held criminally liable for falsifying that certification as "true and correct". Evers is in effect admitting to the commission of a crime by falsifying the payroll if in fact he believe anyone held a no show position. Now that's a smart guy!

On the civil side, anyone who is victimized by such a lie by a public official has civil remedies which could result in the awarding of damages and penalties. While such action is a long arduous exercise, Evers has no proof to advance his claims. In fact he looks rather silly just on the town's website where the minutes of some 37 Comprehensive Plan meetings document some of the work product he claims does not exist.

Aside from the engagement in smearing the reputations of political adversaries, their is a moral issue which arises in this over the edge assault on one's character. It is one thing to disagree with someone and to intensely dislike them for shining light on activities which one believes not to be in the public interest, or inherently dishonest. It is another to make up facts, spread rumors and engage in character assassination of political opponents because you have nothing else with which to counter their arguments. The mirror can, under such circumstances, be an ugly and uninviting place. But that assumes the presence of a moral compass, a conscience, which guides one's decisions and actions.