A Slapp In The Golden State: Penance (And Salvation)
For Speaking Out
Razor Magazine -
November, 2002
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The Rev. Steve Anderson thought he was just doing what any crusading small-town minister might when he uncovered apparent municipal corruption and sleaze. But he had no idea what he was getting into. Russ looks at one example of the tactics large corporations use to silence citizen-activists.
Blue Ribbon:
This
appeared in the Riverside, California
Press-Enterprise
Case against pastor profiled
MEDIA: A former Colton minister and his legal woes are the focus of a magazine piece.
11/24/2002
Beautiful women, celebrity interviews, political corruption in Colton -- all in the November issue of a glossy men's magazine called Razor.
Flip past the picture-packed article on 007's legendary beauties to find some serious journalism that paints former Colton officials and the city's trash hauler as corrupt to the core.
The same article by investigative reporter Russ Baker extols the Rev. Stephen Anderson, a muckraking minister in Colton, for risking all he had to expose an apparent attempt by a large waste removal company to bribe city officials for a favorable contract.
Anderson says he feels validated by the national media exposure. "I'm in the process of being vindicated. People are realizing this reverend is right."
Speaking out at public meetings, on the radio and through his Web site, Anderson contended since the mid-1990s that bribery was involved in Colton's dealings with its Orange County-based trash hauler, Taormina Industries.
Some of Anderson's allegations have held up in the ongoing government investigation of political corruption in Colton. Abe Beltran, a former mayor and councilman, pled guilty on federal charges of bribery and money laundering. In his agreement to plead guilty, he alleged that a Taormina consultant, Gil Lara, paid him $5,000 to pass on to former Councilman Don Sanders in exchange for votes on a favorable contract with the city. Sanders also pled guilty to federal bribery charges unrelated to Taormina. Both men are awaiting sentencing.
No one linked to Taormina has been charged with wrongdoing.
Will Flower, a spokesman for Republic Industries, the parent company of Taormina, said the company had no knowledge of the bribes alleged in the plea agreement. "It's not the way we do business," Flower said. "Nor do we condone it."
Effects of the lawsuit
In 1997, four years before Beltran's admission of bribery in connection with Taormina, the trash company filed a libel-and-slander lawsuit against Anderson, then the pastor of Healing Waters Church in Colton.
Anderson has said the lawsuit and subsequent controversy ruined his reputation and livelihood in Colton. A longtime resident of the city, Anderson lost his Pentacostal church, with some 180 members, and his house. He moved with his wife and three children from a house in Reche Canyon to a triple-wide mobile home in Riverside.
Now an itinerant minister, Anderson travels to different churches in the region substituting for pastors.
In his 4,700-word article in Razor magazine, Baker uses Anderson's situation as an example of the tactics used by large corporations to silence citizen activists. Many corporations, Baker writes, "play bully" by filing lawsuits against environmentalists, union organizers and others who don't have the resources to fight back.
Thousands of such lawsuits filed each year are designed to stifle public criticism, Baker writes. They violate free speech protections and are so widespread they've earned the acronymn SLAPP -- Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation.
Baker is nationally recognized for his long, investigative articles that explore abuses of power. He is a contributing editor of Columbia Journalism Review, a leading media publication, and his work appears frequently in national magazines and newspapers.
Baker said that he chose to write about Anderson because the minister's SLAPP situation hadn't been widely reported, nor thoroughly investigated by the local media.
Baker spent four years reporting the story, Anderson said. The main obstacles to getting it published, Baker said, were "the complexity of the story, the fact that garbage contracts aren't necessarily the most stimulating topic and the reality that Colton is not on most people's radar screen.
"Still, it's a good and worthy story, emblematic of broader problems throughout this country," Baker said.
Unlike some SLAPP targets, Anderson was essentially on his own without the backing of an organization or fellow activist, Baker said. "Also, the apparent aggressiveness of his opponents and the extent of the potential corruption were striking elements."
The settlement
Mark Goldowitz, an Oakland public interest attorney and director of the California Anti-SLAPP Project since 1991, represented Anderson in trial court in the libel and slander lawsuit.
A San Bernardino County Superior Court judge tossed out the lawsuit as a meritless SLAPP. In an 18-page opinion, she declared Anderson an "effective public critic" of local politics, who is "likely to prevail on his defenses of truth and common interest privilege."
Taormina appealed and the lower court opinion was reversed. The appellate court majority decided there was enough disputed evidence to allow the parties to go to trial.
As Anderson and his lawyer prepared for trial, his insurance carrier settled with Taormina out of court -- without his knowledge, the minister said.
Emily Abbas, a spokeswoman for GuideOne Insurance, said the terms of Anderson's policy did not require his consent to settle a claim.
Taormina received an undisclosed sum from GuideOne.
'Our kids were ostracized'
Baker's article ties Taormina officials to a well-orchestrated campaign that tried to discredit Anderson not only in the courtroom, but in his church, in the community and at City Hall.
Taormina sued not only Anderson, but 50 unnamed John Doe defendants, which essentially targeted members of his church, Anderson said. The small, blue-collar church soon emptied. Anderson lost his income, and the church property was sold to another congregation.
A group called Citizens for a Safer Colton tried to discredit him by fabricating allegations of wife-beating, alcoholism, phony degrees and graft, Anderson said.
Bill Taormina, co-owner of Taormina, said he had ties to the organization during a deposition in the libel and slander case against Anderson. Taormina also said in a deposition that he founded Citizens for a Safer Colton, and through his lawyer, disseminated information.
"Our church members couldn't even come to our church," Anderson said. "There were posters of me, hit pieces. They put a book on everybody's car called the Stevie book. When you connect the dots of a cross it turned into a dollar sign. When you filled in a crossword puzzle, it called me a 'con' and 'greedy.' "
Anderson said he was forced to resign as regional director of the nationwide Traditional Values Coalition because of Bill Taormina's relationship with its chairman, Lou Sheldon, a well-known Orange County minister.
"Our kids were ostracized. People would shun them," Anderson said.
Flower said the terms of the settlement agreement with Anderson's insurance company prohibit Taormina from discussing specifics related to Anderson.
However, Flower said, "It was Anderson who libeled Taormina, not the other way around." By settling with the trash company, Anderson's insurance company agreed its client was in the wrong, Flower said. "They paid us a huge amount of money. What's right is right."
Settling a claim does not necessarily admit wrongdoing, GuideOne spokeswoman Abbas said.
Flower also said the trash company is cooperating with authorities in the ongoing investigation into corruption in Colton.
'Many of the same lessons'
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ted Moreton in Los Angeles would not say if Anderson was a key whistleblower in the Colton corruption cases.
Anderson is one of many sources in the investigation, said Moreton, who is prosecuting corruption cases in San Bernardino County. "His fight parallels the federal government's. He's learned many of the same lessons we have about corruption in San Bernardino County."
Moreton praised Anderson's efforts and withheld comment on the possibility of future indictments.
Elected officials in Colton such as Mayor Deirdre Bennett and Councilman John Mitchell call Anderson an opportunist who will do or say anything to make himself look good. City Manager Daryl Parrish said he stands by the city's contract with Taormina as beneficial to the citizens of Colton, and untainted by bribery if it took place.
The Razor article devotes a good deal of ink to irritating aspects of Anderson's personality. Many considered him a gadfly or buffoon, until the indictments against public officials and businessmen were handed down.
When the truth became known, D.L. Vorhis, owner of the radio station that carried Anderson's talk show, said "he wasn't as crazy as they thought."
Mitchell said Anderson went too far as a public critic. "He would smear anyone and rip them to pieces. Then if he was criticized, he'd say, 'How dare you attack a man of the cloth.' "
Anderson said he doesn't care what people think of him.
"I support your First Amendment right to say what you think of me," he said. "But don't shut me up."
Anderson, who lived in Colton for 18 years, said he expects to return and rebuild his church.
"I don't want to be a watchdog the rest of my life," he said. "I'm a preacher. I love Colton. I want to be back pastoring a flock there soon."
Reach Ellen Braunstein at (909) 890-4458 or ebraunstein@pe.com
SLAPP SUIT
"Razor" is available in magazine outlets or online, http://www.razormagazine.com/v2-10-f4-slapp.php
