WICOMICO COUNTY, Md. -- Michael Goldberg of Wicomico County believes his own government tried to impede on his right to free speech. Goldberg was served an interim peace order back in August, forbidding him from attending county events.
Heather Lankford, a county employee, filed a petition for the peace order on August 20th. That petition asked the court to order Goldberg to not contact her or show up to her place of work.
Lankford claimed Goldberg had assaulted her at the end of a county meeting on August 20th. A judge issued an interim peace order until an official hearing could be held, but Lankford withdrew her petition days after initially filing it.
WBOC did not get an answer on Tuesday as for why the petition was withdrawn.
Goldberg told us this situation, however, landed a Wicomico County Sheriff's Deputy on his doorstep on the night of August 20th.
"The first thing he does is Mirandize me and then advised that I had been accused, by Heather Lankford, of assaulting her in the county council chamber," said Goldberg.
The following morning, another officer showed up at Goldberg's home.
"At that time I was served with an interim peace order which prohibited me from having any contact with Ms. Lankford, which also included entering the county government building where the county council sessions are held," said Goldberg.
As Goldberg was preparing legal council to defend himself, he said a video from Pac14, a local public access channel that airs Wicomico County meetings, came out.
"The tape was released from Pac14, which thankfully revealed what had actually happened," said Goldberg. "It was on video that as I walked by Ms. Lankford I gently placed that piece of paper on her lap."
According to Lankford's petition for a peace order, she claims she "felt and saw Mr. Goldberg frisbee throw a document at me brushing by my notebook and the paper hit my chest."
*The video of the incident can be found in the 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. WBOC broadcasts.*
While the petition was eventually withdrawn, Goldberg felt this was an attempt by Lankford and the County Executive's Office to keep him away from county meetings.
"In my opinion there's absolutely no question about it," said Goldberg. "It's not the first time that they have tried to infringe my first amendment rights because I am a political opponent."
Goldberg has been outspoken to WBOC about issues with Giordano in the past.
Mainly he was against Safari at the Quarry and was happy when the county government installed legislation to prohibit similar events from happening without going through the proper channels.
County Executive Julie Giordano provided us with a statement on Tuesday.
"I am not quite sure why Mr. Goldberg felt the need to include me or my office in a situation between a constituent and a county employee. No county employee's actions are politically motivated on my behalf. At no point in time was Mr. Goldberg told to stay away from the county building, at no point in time was he banned from any sort of county event, and at no point has anyone tried to silence him." - Julie Giordano, Wicomico County Executive.
We also reached out to Ms. Lankford via email and did get a response on her behalf.
“At this time, due to Council Members and the Council Attorney attending hearings, Ms. Lankford is not comfortable commenting as she is fearful they will defund another position she holds. Additionally, there are multiple investigations and several pending litigations in process due to the egregious and false accusations made against Ms. Lankford.”
It's also worth noting that no county meetings took place while the interim peace order was in effect.
