Ron Nelson hits fellow Kardinia ward election candidate Jack Williams with legal demands
A City of Greater Geelong councillor has launched legal action against a 22-year-old council candidate over comments made on his Facebook page during last year’s election campaign.
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A City of Greater Geelong councillor has launched legal action against a 22-year-old council candidate over comments made on his Facebook page during last year’s election campaign.
Long-time councillor Ron Nelson prevailed over Jack Williams in the Kardinia Ward, but now his lawyer wants Mr Williams held liable for alleged “seriously defamatory” comments others made on a Facebook post published on October 3.
In a legal letter seen by the Geelong Advertiser, Mr Nelson wants an apology from Mr Williams and his legal expenses paid.
The letter states Mr Nelson went to Mr Williams’ Armstrong Creek home on October 3 after his election signage was vandalised and removed from private property on the corner of Surf Coast Highway and Reserve Rd, Grovedale on October 3.
Mr Nelson’s lawyer said Mr Williams’ Facebook post, and his comments to the media, about the exchange at Mr Williams’ home conveyed an imputation Mr Nelson was “maniacal, aggressive, petulant and unreasonable” and not fit to be a Geelong councillor.
It’s understood Mr Williams received the legal letter, which outlines the case, on Monday.
In the letter Mr Nelson said the exchange was “civil” but Mr Williams wrote on Facebook, in the hours after the incident, that Mr Nelson allegedly threatened legal action and hurled his election signage at him.
“The publication contains falsehoods about our client and have unjustly damaged our client’s reputation,” the legal letter from Geelong law firm Harwood Andrews to Mr Williams read.
Mr Nelson’s lawyer said his client was a “prominent and respected public servant ” after serving as a Geelong councillor since 2011.
Mr Nelson’s lawyer said the publication of the material had malicious intent and caused “harm” to his client’s reputation.
On first preferences votes Mr Williams was Mr Nelson’s closest challenger — although preferences got fellow Kardinia Ward candidate Belinda Moloney over the line.
Both Mr Nelson and Mr Williams were contacted by the Geelong Advertiser but did not respond.
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