After receiving a cease-and-desist letter from the Lee Company, the campaign of Republican gubernatorial candidate Diane Black has removed information about the company's treatment of a former employee from a website launched to criticize rival GOP candidate Bill Lee.
On Wednesday, the Lee Company, which is owned by Bill Lee, sent the letter accusing the Black campaign of “deliberately misrepresenting” a move by the Williamson County business in a legal dispute with an Army National Guard member who had claimed wrongful termination in a federal lawsuit.
"We have learned that the Diane Black for Governor campaign is deliberately misrepresenting actions taken by Lee Company that relate to a former employee who served as a Tennessee National Guardsman," states the letter from Lee Company general counsel Jason Hale. "You have also misrepresented our company's attitude toward and treatment of veterans in these communications."
Shortly afterward, the website, which included a link to the original complaint in federal court and included language saying the Guardsman was fired while he was deployed, was changed to simply include a link to a Tennessean article about the lawsuit.
In a statement, Black spokesman Chris Hartline said the campaign received a "vague letter that does not dispute any specific allegations."
Hartline questioned why the letter went to the Black campaign and not to The Tennessean, which reported on the lawsuit after the mailers went out and after the information about the lawsuit appeared on the website published by the Black campaign.
"We are committed to the truth and await further clarification about what they believe is incorrect in the Tennessean’s story,” Hartline said in his statement.
In response to changes on the website paid for by the Black campaign, “Our content is constantly changing to reflect our TV advertising," Hartline said.
In the lawsuit, which was filed in 2009, William O. Roark III alleged he was wrongfully terminated by the Lee Company on at least two occasions after he was deployed.
After two active-duty deployments in 2003 and 2004, Roark was rehired but only after the intervention of an Army advocate, according to the lawsuit. The Lee Company contested Roark's claims of wrongdoing.
He was rehired after a deployment in Iraq in 2007, but Roark argued in his lawsuit that he was laid off later in 2008 because he needed to regularly attend appointments related to injuries and illness he sustained while deployed.
Lee Company denied wrongdoing, and a judge dismissed the claims from the 2003 and 2004 incidents. The company said Roark was laid off, along with others, as a result of the 2008 economic downtown. The two sides then settled the case, which is not the same as an admission of guilt.
In its cease-and-desist letter, the Lee Company cited a recent mailer Black’s campaign sent out related to Roark’s lawsuit.
One mailer says Bill Lee fired a Tennessee National Guardsman while he was deployed to Iraq.
"Bill Lee's business was told by the U.S. Army they were violating his rights. They did it anyway. Even worse, Bill Lee's business didn't dispute his claim that he was fired while he was deployed — instead, their defense was that the soldier waited too long to sue," the mailer stated.
Another mailer with a picture of a soldier says, "They protected our freedom and what did Bill Lee give them in Return? A Pink Slip."
At least one of the mailers includes a reference to www.billleefactcheck.com, the website paid for by the Black campaign and where similar statements were made.
"With these communications, you have willfully made false and misleading comments about Lee Company without any regard for the truth, and your attempts to spread defamatory material have caused serious and irreparable injury to Lee Company," the letter says.
The letter goes on to say the company has always supported veterans.
Reach Jordan Buie at jbuie@tennessean.com or 615-726-5970 and on Twitter @jordanbuie.