THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA: Mendelsohn, Heffley Added to 2008 Senate Campaign Lawsuit

Jun 29, 2010

The following article was published by The News Service of Florida on June 29, 2010:

Former state Rep. Tim Ryan has added fundraiser Alan Mendelsohn and lobbyist and political consultant Rich Heffley as defendants in a lawsuit alleging Ryan’s record was falsely portrayed during a state Senate campaign in 2008. Ryan lost the Democratic primary in the race to Sen. Eleanor Sobel and his suit, filed in Broward Circuit Court, accuses People for a Better Florida Fund of distorting his record in ads that helped cost him the election. Ryan’s attorney, former state Sen. Walter “Skip” Campbell, told the News Service Tuesday that the suit now alleges that Mendelsohn and Heffley were “integral” to decision making by the organization that ran the ads against Ryan. “They used false, fabricated information to defeat Tim Ryan,” Campbell said. “We’ve got to stop that type of stuff. When you’re dealing with half-truths, innuendo and falsehoods, something’s wrong.” Heffley said he wouldn’t have any comment on the matter and Mendelsohn’s attorney, Alvin Entin didn’t immediately return a call, though Entin was quoted in The Miami Herald as saying that the suit was a “bad faith political move.”