Mayoral mailer controversy leads to lawsuit against Hilton Head Plantation and its manager
Hilton Head mayoral candidate JoAnn Orischak has filed a libel lawsuit against Hilton Head Plantation manager Peter Kristian after Kristian sent a mass email to plantation residents alerting them that an Orischak campaign mailer may have been distributed in violation of federal postal law.
In her suit, Orischak claims Kristian is supporting her opponent, Alan Perry, and that his email did “reputational damage” to her campaign. Based on Kristian’s past political experience, the suit claims, he is “fully cognizant” of the effect accusing a candidate of a federal crime could have on their election odds and voters’ perception.
The email did not mention Orischak by name, only “candidates running for political office.”
Last week, around 4,000 Orischak campaign mailers were sent to residents of Hilton Head Plantation, a community of roughly 10,000. The USPS distributed them through the “every door direct mailing” system, but due to an oversight at the post office, the materials were inspected and distributed despite lacking the required label indicating that postage had been paid.
The suit, filed Nov. 1, names Kristian and the Hilton Head Plantation Property Owners’ Association as defendants and seeks actual and punitive damages in excess of $7,500, plus attorney’s fees and other relief deemed appropriate by the court.
“The complaint speaks for itself,” Orischak told The Island Packet on Monday. “Upon my attorney’s counsel I’m unable to comment at this time.”
Kristian also declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing the plantation POA’s policy.
According to the complaint, lodged with the Beaufort County Court of Common Pleas, Kristian’s decision to send a mass email to plantation residents alerting them of the mailers and asking them to report the materials to the post office was a “malicious” attack.
Kristian is a candidate for the Beaufort County School Board in Tuesday’s election and a former candidate for Town Council.
The complaint also claims Kristian has made it “abundantly clear he supports and endorses” Perry, Orischak’s mayoral opponent. It cites a meet-and-greet event including Perry, Kristian, Ward 2 candidate Stephen Arnold and others held at The Country Club of Hilton Head, located in Hilton Head Plantation on Oct. 13
Perry said he hasn’t been endorsed by Kristian, and the event was arranged by Ward 2 Councilman Bill Harkins to highlight candidates he supports.
Kristian has not endorsed Perry, he previously told The Island Packet, emphasizing it would be “inappropriate” for him to do so.
Orischak previously told The Island Packet she wasn’t contacted before the email was sent to confirm the mailers were distributed legally. She provided Kristian with the $847 receipt for mail service a day after the email was sent, she said.
Kristian then sent a follow-up email to Hilton Head Plantation residents clarifying the materials were paid for and distributed through USPS, but the complaint reads that the second email wasn’t enough to “unring the bell” and undo “reputational damage” to Orischak and her campaign.
“Given the nature of social media and the ease of electronic dissemination of email, it is certain that the defamatory statements have circulated to a substantial number of non-HHP resident voters on HHI, who were not privy to the corrective email,” the complaint reads.
This story was originally published November 7, 2022 at 11:36 AM.
