In an attempt to deflect attention from Mayor John Fretti’s alleged misdeeds at the city’s ethics committee hearing Tuesday, Fretti’s attorney Mike Bennett tried to discredit the Valdosta Daily Times by stating that reporters had received money from Roy Taylor to dig up dirt on the Mayor.

Bennett questioned Taylor first, who denied the allegation, before stating that he was calling a former Times reporter and the reporter covering the meeting to testify.

Times Editor Kay Harris objected, as the newspaper was not given advance notice and had no time to obtain legal counsel. She stated that the reporter currently working for the Times could not testify under the circumstances and she questioned what evidence the former reporter could add, as he left the Times nearly a year prior to the publication of the Times series on government travel expenses in September 2010.

Bennett was allowed to move forward by the panel and call the former employee as a witness, who testified truthfully, providing no information to back Bennett’s claim that anyone at the Times had taken money from Taylor to investigate Fretti or the city.

While Bennett’s desire to cast aspersions on the newspaper to deflect the attention away from Fretti might be a common technique used in a trial, this was not a courtroom. It was a city ethics committee hearing. Bennett accused the Times of unethical conduct with no basis for his statements.

The committee found that there is sufficient evidence to proceed with the ethics complaint, and Fretti also still faces the possibility of charges as a result of the GBI’s investigation. Bennett’s antics to distract the committee from the real issue did not work. If the ultimate intention was to scare and intimidate the Times or any other local news outlet from covering issues that might cast elected officials or government employees in a bad light, it didn’t work. Neither did the attempt to discredit the Times. Shame on those who tried.