Forsyth County commissioners say they’ll fight the ACLU’s lawsuit over opening invocations at public meetings.
But who’s going to pay the legal bills? Since County Attorney Davida Martin isn’t taking the case, Alliance Defense Fund counsel Mike Johnson says they’ll do it for nothing. But Commissioner Ted Kaplan, who voted against pursuing the lawsuit, wonders who will pay if the county loses:
Johnson said that his organization will pay for the court battle, which is expected to be long and expensive. However, he said that the group will not pay any damages or the legal fees for the winning side if the county loses. He said that a new nonprofit group called the North Carolina Partnership for Religious Liberty was established this week to raise money to cover the cost of a potential loss. Johnson said that the group is led by Stephen Corts, a senior pastor at Center Grove Baptist Church in Clemmons, and has more than $50,000 in pledges.
Kaplan said that despite the offer, there is still a big chance that county residents will end up paying the bill for the lawsuit. He said he is leery of putting too much faith in a newly founded group raising enough money to offset the potential cost of losing.
“I think if you look closer at that, it’s not as it appears,” he said. “They say they have $54,000 in pledges. My guess is that it’s two or three people, maybe more.
“If I had thought it was a slam-dunk lawsuit I would have said, ‘fine,’ but I don’t think it is. Pretty much everyone I talk to seems to think it’s not,” he said.
But the bottom line for commission chair Gloria Whisenhunt is constituents are encouraging the county to take on the ACLU:
Whisenhunt, the chairwoman of the board of commissioners, said she is confident that the money would be there if the county loses. She said she has received an overwhelming number of e-mails and phone calls urging the county to fight the lawsuit.
“I do believe that they’ll raise the money, but even if they don’t, I still think it’s worthwhile for the taxpayer,” she said.
