Ex-lawmaker fires back, sues paper for more than $1 million

Former state lawmaker turned political blogger Cal Skinner Jr. is firing back at a newspaper publisher that is suing him for defamation, claiming in a countersuit that the company filed a "sham" lawsuit designed to intimidate him and suppress his right to publish his opinions.

Skinner is seeking in excess of $1.05 million from The B.F. Shaw Printing Co., the parent company of the Northwest Herald, in a counterclaim that alleges the company perpetrated a fraud on the public through its defamation suit against him.

"(The) plaintiff's lawsuit is a sham; filed solely to intimidate, harass and destroy an online Internet marketplace competitor of news and opinion," Skinner attorney Patrick Ouimet states in the countersuit.

Skinner's filing comes less than three weeks after the newspaper company sued him over a June 3 posting on his mchenrycountyblog.com.

At the heart of the dispute is Skinner's claim that day that the newspaper received a multimillion dollar loan from McHenry County to keep it from leaving the county and "put the paper in the back pocket of the Republican party."

The Shaw lawsuit denied any such loan, disputed Skinner's claims it might have moved out of the county and denied being in the back pocket of any political party. It seeks more than $50,000 in damages from Skinner.

Skinner's counterclaim, however, insists that his June 3 loan remarks were accurate, and references a 1985 financial arrangement between the county and a limited partnership called Shawmor. County records show that the county board endorsed a resolution that year permitting a $2.6 million bond issue to help Shawmor fund what would become the Northwest Herald headquarters in Crystal Lake.

The move allowed the partnership to finance at least part of the project at 80 percent of the prime rate.

County officials say the measure was not a loan, but instead say the county acted as a facilitator allowing Shawmor to acquire the loan from private lender at a significantly reduced interest rate.

Newspaper attorney Don Craven said Skinner's focus on the loan issue sidesteps what he sees as the larger issue: allegations the Northwest Herald is in the GOP's back pocket.

"He's offered no evidence to support that ludicrous statement," Craven said.