Politics & Government
Gov. Malloy Files For Protective Order Against Senate Hopeful Whitnum
Whitnum, who lives in Greenwich, filed a lawsuit against Malloy in 2010, when he was still mayor of Stamford.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has reportedly filed for a protective order against fellow Democrat and US Senate hopeful Lee Whitnum, who is suing the governor for slander.
According to a report in the Stamford Advocate, Whitnum, who lives in Greenwich, filed the lawsuit against Malloy in 2010, when Malloy was still mayor of Stamford. Whitnum claims Malloy damaged her reputation when he characterized comments she made during the 2008 Democratic primary between herself and now-Congressman Jim Himes about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee as anti-Semitic.
In a statement, the governor’s office said the civil motion filed Monday is so Malloy doesn't need to respond to correspondence from Whitnum, and should not be misconstrued as a restraining order.
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“The motion filed yesterday was for a protective order, but the term is being misinterpreted by some as being akin to a ‘restraining order,’ which this is not," Andrew Doba, Governor Malloy’s director of communications, said in the statement. "Yesterday's motion was filed to ensure that the Governor does not have to respond to Lee Whitnum’s baseless and improper discovery requests in a civil case."
“The court recently ruled that Ms. Whitnum’s amended complaint was improper and knocked out her complaint in its entirety," Doba said. "Since Ms. Whitnum no longer has a civil complaint against the Governor, the Governor is not obligated to respond or object to Ms. Whitnum’s improper discovery requests."
“Ms. Whitnum has now had two unsuccessful bites at the apple in her attempt to maintain a complaint against the Governor," Doba added. "Her litigious conduct lacks merit and she has no claims against the Governor.”
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As the Stamford Advocate report points out, Whitnum “has clashed for years with local and state lawmakers on a variety of issues,” including when after she brought a lawsuit “for violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment for the multiple displays of the Star of David and holding the Bar Mitzvah of Aner Shofty on Town of Greenwich property” last year.
