Coweta Commissioner Leigh Schlumper filed a civil lawsuit against fellow commissioners Tim Higgins and Tim Lassetter in U.S. District Court Friday, claiming the two men set out to discriminate and defame her, which resulted in her not being elected as chairwoman of the Coweta County Board of Commissioners.
Schlumper alleges in the lawsuit that she was not elected in January 2008 to be chairwoman of the five-member board because she was the victim of rumors and derogatory comments made toward her by the commissioners because she is a woman.
In addition, she alleges she was cautioned by other county commissioners not to interact with male county employees, not to appear in public with male employees, and was “openly accused” of having affairs with male county employees.
The two-term commissioner claims that a campaign of rumors, harassing letters and phone calls commenced against her when a close friend of Lassetter’s applied for the position of deputy chief of the Coweta County Fire Department in 2006 but was passed over for the promotion.
Jay Jones, a close and old high school friend of Schlumper’s, was selected by the county’s fire chief instead, according to the lawsuit.
»
