Tag: Extortion

"This action by the district attorney today is perhaps the most flagrantly political, despicable, desperate thing any of us has ever seen in Hamilton County," Boyd said in a statement Tuesday. I welcome all the facts around Mr. [Brent] Lambert's charges, and I will take my case for re-election to the voters in District 8." A spokeswoman for the district attorney's office said Boyd's indictment cannot be released until he's been arrested, so it's unclear what the exact evidence is against him. Lambert, who had filed a complaint last month with the district attorney's office after saying Boyd threatened him to leave the race, did not respond to multiple calls for comment Tuesday. A campaign fundraiser held for Lambert Monday night included developers Matt Wood and Ethan Wood, who were involved in the East Ridge Exit 1 project on Interstate 75, but it's unknown how much money he raised at the event. Boyd and Lambert were set to appear in a debate Tuesday night at Wally's Restaurant in East Ridge hosted by the Nightside Pachyderm Club. The politicians were taking questions when someone asked Boyd why he threatened Lambert, telling him to leave the race. Boyd said he asked Lambert to pull out after learning Lambert had received $5,000 in political contributions, including $3,000 from Exit 1 developers, just days after the East Ridge town council approved more than $4 million in bonds for the project and at a time when Lambert didn't have a campaign going on. After the March 19 Pachyderm meeting, Lambert said Boyd was set to "release damaging information on me if I did not withdraw. Lambert filed a complaint against Boyd with the district attorney's office.