At approximately 5 p.m.

Monday afternoon, I received an e-mail from City Manager

Jim Basinger that the ethics complaint filed against me

afterward, I received a follow-up fax from city hall

which outlined an "explanation" from Mrs.

McMenamin as to what caused her sudden change of heart.

The final score for this one was Justice 1, Politics As

Usual 0.

Although I believed Mrs.

McMenamin's complaint was baseless political retaliation

against me, this was nonetheless a serious charge and I

treated it as such. I therefore decided I must enlist the

services of legal counsel, and informed city staff and

council that was my intent. I retained John W. Mrosek of

Fayetteville, a trusted advisor and highly respected

Fayette County attorney. I know that Mr. Mrosek has spent

substantial time preparing for the upcoming hearing, and

I have incurred substantial costs as a result.

[Monday] morning Mr. Mrosek

faxed a notice to council members Fritz and McMenamin, as

well as Mayor Lenox, to inform them they would be

subpoenaed by the method of their choice to testify at my

hearing on April 12. To my knowledge, it was placed in

all councilmembers mailboxes before noon, because my copy

was in my box at 11:45 a.m.

Amazingly, even though the

ethics complaint had been pending for two weeks, with one

ethics board meeting convened, it took just five hours

after being notified of Mr. Mrosek's intention to compel

testimony at my hearing that Ms. McMenamin coincidentally

decided to dismiss her complaint. Is it possible the

mayor and McMenamin were reluctant to answer questions

under oath that might arise on the subject of open

meetings? As my good friend Steve Brown would say, draw

your own conclusions.

Mrs. McMenamin, do you

honestly think I ever had any desire to become a part of

the "inner circle" of this town? I got elected

because I wasn't a part of the "inner circle."

Your remarks on that subject are misguided and taken out

of context. For the record, the only "inner

circle" I am interested in being a part of is when I

play Ring Around the Rosies with my 2-year-old son,

Jackson.

It gets more interesting.

Just [Monday], I received a copy of a letter dated March

27 from Mr. Andrew Whalen, the advisory attorney in this

ethics complaint, in which he responded to Mrs.

McMenamin's inquiry as to whether or not she could

withdraw her complaint against me.

Mr. Whalen responded that

indeed she could, but added, "However, it would have

been my advice to the Board of Ethics that Councilman

Tennant's action in circulating a proposed ordinance by

e-mail in which he expressed his opinions and solicited

the opinion of other members of the governing body before

the Council meeting at which it would be officially

considered, did not constitute a `meeting' as defined by

law."

Why in the world did Mrs.

McMenamin not ask this fundamental question before she

put me, my family, and our community through this

turmoil? One can reasonably conclude her reaction is

attributed to political retribution for criticizing the

city attorney and/or mayor's actions on the Steve Brown

libel case. Or for not going along to get along with

regard to appointing the highest bidder for city judge.

Or for not going along to lift the annexation moratorium.

Or for having the audacity to write a free speech

ordinance. Again, draw your own conclusions.

The unfortunate thing is

that this entire matter has resulted in an enormous waste

of my time and energy as well as legal fees. Nonetheless

it is with great humility that I thank all the kind

people, most of whom I don't even know, who have

supported me throughout this ordeal. It is a very

humbling experience to be mistreated, only to have the

community rally to your defense. Let's hope the future is

brighter for all of us.

Daniel R. Tennant

Council Member,

Peachtree City

[email protected]