Editorial: Royalty lawsuit flap makes him a poor choice for mayor
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette
Sunday, Oct. 31, 2010, 8:30 p.m. – Bardstown mayoral candidate John Royalty’s campaign has run aground with only hours remaining before city residents cast their votes on Tuesday.
In a story that first aired Friday, Oct. 22nd on 1320 WBRT and was published the same day by the Nelson County Gazette, it was learned that Royalty’s statements in July to the local newspaper regarding his 12-year-old lawsuit against the city of Bardstown and its police department were inaccurate and misleading.
In the July newspaper story about Royalty’s filing to run for mayor, he told reporter Lydelle Abbott that the lawsuit had been settled out of court at some point during his six years as councilman.
In a very tortured sense, the lawsuit was indeed over; it had been dismissed by Nelson Circuit Judge Jack Seayabout three weeks earlier. But what about the part where Royalty said the lawsuit had been settled out of court? Royalty’s only stab at an explanation was to tell me the lawsuit was “out of court” at the time he talked to the reporter.
Royalty’s lawsuit stems from a 1998 incident that resulted in Royalty being removed from his job as a Bardstown police officer by then-Mayor Harry Spalding for violating the department’s rules on the use of deadly force.
In my telephone interview on Oct. 22, I questioned Royalty about his statement to the newspaper that the lawsuit had been settled out of court. He never once suggested the reporter misheard him or got the story wrong. Instead, Royalty’s defense was that his statement to the newspaper – that the lawsuit was over – was accurate at the time he said it. Four days after he spoke to the newspaper, his attorney filed an appeal on his behalf, pushing the lawsuit to the Kentucky Court of Appeals.
In my conversation with Royalty, his statements in his defense included the fact he was asking for no money (not true, according to his original lawsuit) and that he was only pursuing his 14th Amendment right to due process. Royalty suggested during our conversation that in his mind the lawsuit was still “over” and was no longer “active” since he was only asking for a review of the decision. As noted in the newspaper’s Oct. 29thstory, the lawsuit is still ongoing, and the city’s taxpayers continue to be on the hook for the city’s legal defense, just as they have for the past 12 years.
The issue here isn’t Royalty’s right to due process, nor is it limited to the merits of his lawsuit against the city. There’s a much larger principle here – one every voter needs to consider. This issue is the honesty and character of a candidate who is seeking the public’s trust by running for mayor.
Even if you believe the newspaper got Royalty’s story completely wrong in July (something Royalty himself has never suggested), his response to questions about the lawsuit is to duck, dive, spin and evade. Royalty has failed miserably to be frank and upfront about the lawsuit.
To his credit, Royalty has been a very proactive and hands-on councilman; I have seen him touring storm-damaged parts of the city with fellow councilman Bobby Simpson, observing flash flooding or downed utility lines and talking with property owners. Royalty said in the July article that the lawsuit didn’t affect his decisions while serving on the council. I believe him.
But Royalty’s continued attempts to spin the truth about the lawsuit – rather than set the record straight – speak volumes. These attempts to mislead the media – and in turn, the public — should disqualify Royalty from assuming a position of public trust as mayor of the City of Bardstown.
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