GROVELAND, Fla. - After a Groveland city councilwoman was suspended over unearthed social media posts, she and the city are set to take the fight to court, according to records obtained by News 6.
The councilwoman -- Judith Fike -- was suspended on Tuesday after several of her alleged social media posts were dug up and submitted to the city by an anonymous source.
According to Vice Mayor Barbara Gaines, these posts contained racially charged and "hateful" content, such as criticisms and a racial caricature of former President Barack Obama.
However, Fike argued that while at least one of the posts was hers -- one involving an explicit criticism of the Pulse Nightclub shooter's motives -- others appeared to have been doctored.
"Now that Barbara has shown them, those are indeed manipulated, and so I will just let that rest," she said. "They're not my words. Some are -- there are some copies. But what Barbara just showed were absolutely not products of mine."
Regardless, the city council voted 3-1 to suspend Fike, as well as to hold an investigation to figure out what actually happened.
But the next day, Lake County Commissioner Anthony Sabatini announced that he'd filed a lawsuit against the city on Fike's behalf, claiming that the city had violated her civil rights.
The lawsuit states that the city's charter does not allow for suspension or removal of any city councilmember by the council itself for any reason.
"No city gets rid of their own members," Sabatini said. "They don't even have the power to do that. Very few cities have a charter that allows for that, and Groveland is literally just making up the law, so it disgusts me that they are so blatantly violating the law."
While Sabatini is pushing to have the case moved to federal court, the city responded on Thursday that Fike’s federal claims had already been removed when she filed an amended complaint with the county.
As such, the city is moving to have the case remanded back to the state court.
In the meantime, Fike has requested relief in this case, asking the court to do the following:
- Issue a preliminary injunction to restrain the city from further action
- Order the city to restore Fike's position a a lawful councilmember pending final judgment
- Set an expedited evidentiary hearing
- Grant further relief "as justice requires"