[B]ENNINGTON — Comments on internet sites have touched off a firestorm of allegations and countercharges involving a candidate for the Statehouse, the chairman of the Bennington County Democratic Party and other residents.
Kevin Hoyt, a Republican candidate in the Bennington 2-1 House district, is accusing the Democratic chairman, Aaron Sawyer, and two others of defaming him in social media comments and by word of mouth. He has filed a defamation suit against each person, and on Monday filed a motion in Superior Court seeking a “relief from abuse” order.
Hoyt filed a defamation complaint in May against Sawyer and has filed similar complaints against Nancy Koziol and Justin Woodie, all of Bennington.
As of Wednesday, Sawyer and Koziol had filed written responses with the court denying the allegations, and Koziol had filed a counterclaim against Hoyt. She alleges he is leveling unfounded complaints that could negatively affect her reputation, as well as harm her financially and in terms of her health.
Hoyt alleges in the complaints he filed pro se that there was an apparent conspiracy involving Sawyer, Koziol, Woodie and others “to assassinate the plaintiff’s character with mob tactics, mob mentality in a reckless manner with total disregard for the truth and with malice to do harm to the plaintiff’s reputation and character.”
Asked to comment, Sawyer this week termed the suit “spurious and a frivolous waste of everyone’s time, including the court.”
He added: “I’d also note, that it is odd in a defamation case that never once does the plaintiff state that anything that was said/written in regards to his candidacy and character is false.”
Contacted Wednesday, Hoyt asserted that some of the comments were untruthful or incorrectly insinuated illegal or improper conduct on his part. He said he believes most of those comments, copies of which he submitted as exhibits with his suit, have now been removed from websites, sometimes by the administrators of those sites.
Part of the total effect, Hoyt alleged, is that he was thwarted in pursuing his political campaign because many entire comment treads involving him were blocked from public view.
“I think it is Democrat tactics,” he said Wednesday. “I am not against Democrats; I want to work with them, but I am against the extreme left and dirty tactics.”
Hoyt is the lone Republican in the race for two House seats in Bennington 2-1. Also in the race are incumbent Rep. Timothy Corcoran II and Chris Bates, both Democrats. Incumbent Rep. Rachael Fields is not seeking re-election from the district.
References to 2007 charge
As an example of the comments he believes defamed him, Hoyt said, “some accused me of being a sex offender, an abuser.”
He said those comments obviously referred to charges of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child, which were filed against Hoyt in 2007 but dismissed the following year by the prosecution.
In his suit, Hoyt writes that he has “no criminal conviction record, is not on any criminal registries or substantiation lists … [and] has a ‘clean record’ with the exception of one old VOC [violation of conditions] for a charge that no longer exists.”
While free pending a trial on the charge, Hoyt was alleged to have violated his conditions of release concerning the charge prior to its dismissal.
“They are bringing that all up,” Hoyt said Wednesday. “I was falsely accused and I have no record.”
He said Sawyer’s comments would typically appear first, followed by comments by as many as 20 others in what Hoyt believes was likely a conspiracy.
Often, he said, the entire conversation thread would be taken down by the site manager, “so I was effectively blocked from social media. I think it was all planned … or at least they were working together on the same mission, whether they knew it or not.”
Sawyer denies the conspiracy accusation and all others in his written response to the defamation suit. Like Koziol, he initially filed a counterclaim listing allegations against Hoyt, but he later dropped that from his response.
“I didn’t see any point in continuing a pointless case,” he said.
In a lengthy response to the suit, Koziol denied Hoyt’s accusations, saying, “Mr. Hoyt is unknown to me and my family. His attack on me is harassment and a false charge.”
She added, “These erroneous complaints are intended to severely disrupt my finances,” citing the upcoming release of a book and possible negative effects on book sales and other aspects of the business.
In addition, Koziol said the suit has caused her emotional and physical stress, which she believes could affect her health.
Koziol asks the court to “stop plaintiff from harassing” her and issue a restraining order against Hoyt, and seeks damages and compensation for any financial harm she might suffer and any medical expenses she might incur.
In his written response, Sawyer denied resorting to malicious gossip or slanderous name-calling with false statements, and denied libeling Hoyt or vilification of his character in any manner.
He also denied infringing on Hoyt’s rights or acting in a threatening, aggressive or similar manner, and adds, “As a declared candidate for office with an open social media page the plaintiff is open to questioning via others.”
The suits and motions are before Judge David Barra in Bennington Superior Court Civil Division.
