David Simons faces lawsuit, ethics complaints in Savannah-Chatham school board race | savannahnow.com

David Simons, who’s running for president of the Savannah-Chatham County Board of Education, has been hit with a lawsuit and an ethics complaint during a week that has focused public attention on his campaign.

Click here to read the ethics complaint

The lawsuit and the ethics complaint stem from emails he sent to school officials and members of the school board in April on behalf of construction contractor Rives Worrell, Co.

His company, Simons Political Group, represents Rives Worrell, which has a $21 million contract to build Hesse School and is under scrutiny for possibly overstating their women and minority subcontractor commitments in their winning bid.

In an April 16 email, Simons asked Savannah-Chatham public schools Superintendent Thomas Lockamy to meet with representatives from Rives Worrell. The following day he emailed Lockamy and five of the nine school board members claiming that Michelle Jervey, a minority contractor involved in a dispute with Rives Worrell, was causing school construction bid problems for another firm.

“Obviously this needs to end sooner than later where these unscrupulous minority contractors hold the school board and the legitimate contractors over a barrel,” Simons wrote.

The five board members he emailed were all white. No African-American board members or administrative staff were included in the correspondence.

Click here to read the email exchange

Wednesday, Jervey filed a civil suit against Simons in which she argues his email statements to selected members of the school board were false, malicious and “calculated to injure her and damage her professional reputation.” She is seeking $10,000 in damages.

via David Simons faces lawsuit, ethics complaints in Savannah-Chatham school board race | savannahnow.com.