April 29, 2022
LocalNewsOnly
Letter to Editor
By: Richard and Linda Newton
Republican Precinct Chair Chuck Mogged recently sent a mailer to Precinct 3421 and others. In this mailer he endorsed David Kelly for Mayor of Colleyville. He gives no reasons for his endorsement but devotes fully half of his mailer to an attack on Kelly’s opponent, current Colleyville Mayor Pro Tem Bobby Lindamood.
Mogged states that acrimony from a lawsuit over ownership of a family business following the death of Lindamood’s father “spilled over to our community in a 2015 defamation lawsuit against my wife and his political opponents.” Actually, the acrimony stems from Mogged’s involvement in a slanderous anonymous flyer that appeared in select mailboxes in 2015 when Bobby Lindamood ran against Mike Taylor for a place on the Colleyville City Council. Bobby Lindamood sued Mike Taylor, Jim Fletcher and Jan Mogged for slander and defamation after it was determined that all had been aware of the anonymous flyer prior to it being mailed.
Mike Taylor admitted in an affidavit given during the lawsuit that he had taken excerpts from an old lawsuit involving Lindamood, highlighted portions, added comments and handed the pages out to campaign workers. The anonymous mailer that we received (a copy of an oral deposition given by Bobby Lindamood) had accusations highlighted in red, but the statements refuting the accusation were ignored. In addition, lewd comments and false accusations were added in the margins and across the pages in large red type. Why was Jan Mogged named in the lawsuit? She came to our home several days prior to our receipt of the flyer campaigning for Nancy Coplen, Mike Taylor and against the Glade Road referendum. She introduced herself as Jan Mogged, wife of Councilman Chuck Mogged. After a lengthy discussion we asked her why Nancy Coplen had decided to align herself with Mike Taylor’s campaign rather than run independently. Mogged stated that Coplen didn’t want to serve with Lindamood. When asked why, she said “you don’t know what is going to come out about him!” When we tried to question her further, she changed the subject and left shortly thereafter.
A few days later we received the mailer she had alluded to in our conversation with her. We have been involved in Colleyville politics for decades and this was the ugliest attack we have ever witnessed. We had effectively “retired” from politics years before, but this so disturbed us that we became involved again with Richard ultimately running for mayor and being elected again in 2016 (defeating David Kelly) and 2019.
After Lindamood filed the lawsuit, Jan Mogged stated in her deposition that her husband, Chuck Mogged, obtained the excerpt and that she had seen it. An additional defendant in Lindamood’s lawsuit, Jim Fletcher, had told Richard several weeks before the election that Mike Taylor had copies of a deposition concerning Lindamood but that “they were not going to use it”. Fletcher later stated in his deposition that “Michael Taylor had distributed the copies of the transcript. Some of the text had been highlighted”.
In Mogged’s letter to his precinct, he states that Lindamood “baselessly sued others for defamation as a distraction or campaign stunt”. Does he not consider a slanderous anonymous flyer a campaign stunt? He further states that Lindamood made no apology or attempt to atone to those who he wronged. That’s rich. Mogged participated in a slanderous anonymous flyer against a candidate and fellow citizen and expects an apology? David Kelly was mayor at the time this occurred. At the very least the council should have issued a statement denouncing this sort of campaign.
Mogged’s mailer references a Court of Appeals decision. What it doesn’t mention is that Lindamood twice tried to end the lawsuit, but the defendants appealed. Why would you appeal a decision that you “won”? Simple – they wanted more than the $30,000 they would have received had they accepted the original decision. In the seven years since they have racked up $350,000 in court costs and fees. To criticize Lindamood for filing a lawsuit, refuse to settle that lawsuit in a timely manner, and continue to distribute false accusations about him is repugnant. We have unfortunately learned from this (if the current decision stands) that anyone can say anything they like about a candidate and hide behind a SLAPP defense, therefore damaging us all.
Luckily, we don’t live in Chuck Mogged’s district. We can assure you that if we did we would be gathering signatures to demand his resignation as Precinct Chair. To have participated in this despicable stunt in 2015 is bad enough. To continue to harass and assault Lindamood seven years later is inexcusable. This reeks of a personal vendetta – Lindamood did win election to council by a significant majority in 2016 – defeating incumbent Chuck Mogged. Fortunately, the majority of Colleyville voters see this for what it really is – every candidate backed by Mogged for the last six years has lost. The final sentence in Mogged’s mailer says “It’s time to end this acrimony”. Mogged’s resignation as Precinct Chair would be a good start.
Richard and Linda Newton
