City Council Lawsuit- Rosamaria Graziani
by Luke Putvin
Around October 18, fliers from former City Council Candidate Rosamaria Graziani with statements opposing Julieta Altamirano-Crosby were being left at houses along with other candidates’ literature. Graziani previously ran for Lynnwood City Council during the primary, but Altamirano-Crosby and David “Doc” Schirle were the two candidates to make it through to the general election.
Schirle had this to say: “It has come to my attention that a flier was created that had negative comments and information about a candidate for Lynnwood City Council. This is my opponent. I had no knowledge or part in making this flier. It was attached to mine and other candidates’ campaign fliers and distributed door to door. When informed that this happened, I told that person to stop immediately. I in no way endorse any of the comments made in the flier. It was wrong to distribute it without the approval of others and to imply that we were a part of it.”
“I wholeheartedly support freedom of speech, but I am adamantly opposed to involving others without their approval. I do not condone negative campaign tactics or rhetoric.”
George Hurst said, “It has come to my attention that there is a flier being distributed that attacks a council candidate and that flier has my name on it. I repudiate this flier and any implication that I had any part in endorsing this negative ad. We can all disagree on issues but personal attacks like this cannot be tolerated.”
When asked why she put the fliers out, Graziani responded, “I work directly with over 500 local Latino families through Academia Latina. We are still very concerned about Crosby’s frivolous police report about the alleged theft of seven flyers by a 12-year-old Latino boy. Detective Axtman from the Lynnwood Police spent 73 minutes in my home insisting on questioning the boy… So I want my Lynnwood neighbors to know the facts about Crosby… I could have written so much more in that flier, but I wanted it to be as objective as possible. I just want my neighbors to know the truth, because our beloved Lynnwood deserves better than Crosby.”
On November 5, Election Day, Graziani was served with a lawsuit from Altamirano-Crosby.
Rosamaria Graziani had this to say in response to the lawsuit:
“I plan to fight the charges. Julieta Altamirano-Crosby is using the legal system to punish a political opponent, and I am sure the court will see how my shoestring budget campaign was harassed with a police report, a Labor & Industries complaint, a PDC complaint and now a lawsuit. Out of the hundreds of candidates in Snohomish County in this election cycle, I am the only one being sued. The message sent by Crosby is that we should all walk on eggshells when talking about her or risk a lawsuit. Anyone seeking to be an elected official should invite dialogue, not intimidate people.”
The Lynnwood Times reached out to Altamirano-Crosby, but she did not provide a comment.
Author: Luke Putvin
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