Lincoln councilor files defamation suit

A conflict over the purchase of a new police cruiser in Lincoln has entered the court with a town councilor’s defamation suit against the town, a colleague and the town administrator.

Douglas Pinkham contends in the complaint filed last week in Penobscot County Superior Court that Town Manager James B. Somerville and Councilor Lyndon Perry spread falsehoods about him on separate occasions.

Word of the impending court action surfaced last fall, when Pinkham filed the required notice that he planned to file suit.

In the complaint, he contends that on Aug. 27, 1991, the two men told others that Pinkham had tainted the bid process for the purchase of the cruiser by opening the bids before the deadline and revealed their amounts to one of the bidders. Pinkham, who is represented by Phillip D. Buckley, maintains that the statements were false.

The town manager’s remarks allegedly came during a meeting at the town office with Councilor Sterling Osgood and a third man. Perry purportedly made his comments at the Timberhouse Restaurant in the presence of at least six people, including Councilor John Weatherbee.

Somerville and Perry made the statements “maliciously and with the intent to cause a belief that (Pinkham), because of dishonesty, was unfit to discharge his duties as a town councilman with integrity, and with the intent to injure (Pinkham) in reputation and in business,” according to the court document.

While the complaint asks for special and punitive damages without specifying a dollar amount, Pinkham earlier expressed his intention to seek more than $50,000.

His plans to file the lawsuit drew criticism last fall from fellow councilors, who said he couldn’t be an advocate for and an adversary of the town at the same time. Pinkham, whose term expires next month, spurned their calls for his resignation. He does not plan to seek re-election.