Bluffton Mayor Sulka sues critic Hoagland: I’m not a mentally ill criminal

Bluffton Mayor Lisa Sulka is suing a long-time critic for libel.

The suit, filed earlier this week, claims Skip Hoagland — who has led a relentless and ongoing crusade against some local government and business leaders — issued “false and defaming statements” about Sulka in a series of emails sent to various recipients between 2015 and this April.

The emails “falsely accuse” Bluffton’s top elected official “of being mentally ill, unfit for the office of mayor, and of committing crimes,” according to court documents.

Sulka’s suit claims Hoagland has repeatedly made malicious statements that have “damaged (the mayor’s) reputation … and caus(ed) her to suffer mental anguish.”

The suit seeks unspecified damages.

Sulka declined to comment on the lawsuit Friday.

Beaufort County civil cases are required to go to mediation prior to being heard by a jury. Court documents show the first mediation session in this case is scheduled for February.

Hoagland, a Hilton Head Island businessman who founded a local whistleblower group called Beaufort Watchdog, has a history of clashes — both in public and online — with Sulka and other local elected officials. Over the past several years, he has become a controversial figure, known for firing off long email missives and showing up to speak at public meetings around the county to point out what he sees as abuses of power.

Reached by phone Friday, Hoagland said he was not aware of Sulka’s lawsuit.

“This is very interesting,” he said. “If she wants to come after me and try make herself look like a hero, that’s not going to happen.”

“I’m a harsh, vocal critic,” Hoagland said. “But I say things that other people are afraid to say.”

Last year, Hoagland filed complaints with the S.C. Ethics Commission that alleged Sulka voted in favor of land purchases that financially benefited her employer, Carson Realty, or other real estate agents at Carson.

The nine-member commission, whose job is to investigate allegations against public officials, ultimately cleared Sulka of the ethics violation charges.

Sulka and Hoagland butted heads at a Bluffton Town Council meeting in late 2015.

During a public comment session at that December meeting, Hoagland claimed Bluffton officials provided improper support to the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce at the expense of competing chambers, including one he attempted to launch in 2014.

The two sparred verbally before Hoagland was escorted from Town Hall by Bluffton Police Department officers.

Hoagland recently filed a lawsuit against the Town of Hilton Head Island that relates to another suit brought against him by an island government official.

That suit filed in April seeks $10 million in damages over attorney fees paid by the town in an ongoing defamation lawsuit brought in 2015 by Town Council member Kim Likins against Hoagland. Hoagland’s suit contends the payments are a violation of his right to free speech.

Likins’ lawsuit claims that Hoagland made statements to her bosses that she was unfit to serve in her job as director of the Boys & Girls Club of Hilton Head Island.

According to her suit, Hoagland made the allegation following her vote in favor of a contract with the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce.

In early 2016, Hoagland won a lawsuit against the chamber that forced the organization to provide access to internal documents under the state Freedom of Information Act. The chamber appealed the ruling to the S.C. Supreme Court, where the case is pending.

More recently, chamber finance chief Raymond Deal had a heated argument with Hoagland.

The June incident at Hilton Head Island Town Hall devolved to the point Hoagland called Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office deputies, and Sheriff P.J. Tanner even got involved to calm the situation.

This story was originally published July 28, 2017 at 3:14 PM with the headline "Bluffton Mayor Sulka sues critic Hoagland: I’m not a mentally ill criminal."