Through attorney, Florida Rep. Carolina Amesty demands retraction from Orlando Sentinel

Florida District 45 State Rep. Carolina Amesty is demanding a retraction from the Orlando Sentinel following a story the newspaper published Tuesday, Aug. 8.

Amesty said the story is defamatory and inaccurate and includes details about her business dealings with her family’s private school, Central Christian University, and personal life. 

 “The Orlando Sentinel has become a tool for the radical left, and the Sentinel has made it a practice to put conservatives in their crosshairs,” Amesty said in a prepared statement. “But this time, they have gone too far. If they were just attacking my conservative views, it would be one thing; but they have determined to paint me as a criminal, and their article is simply false. If they won’t retract, I will have no option but to seek civil damages.”

In the letter, attorney Amber Stoner Nunnally, of Lawson Huck Gonzalez PLLC, wrote the article includes false and damaging statements that have caused “significant harm to (Amesty’s) reputation and standing in the community.”

"The communications are false and intentionally misleading and must be retracted immediately,” Nunnally wrote. “There is no protection under Florida law for individuals who knowingly publish false information that damages another in its trade or business. Therefore, the following communications should be retracted immediately: 

• “Rep. Carolina Amesty ... filed false information with the state about her family's small Christian university …”

• “The university in late 2021 sent documents to the Florida Commission for Independent Education that claimed as faculty four men who told the Orlando Sentinel they did not work there. The documents — with Carolina Amesty listed as the contact person — were required by the state for private colleges seeking to offer non-religious courses.” 

• “Central Christian's list of faculty sent to the state included the names and academic credentials of 10 professors. But three people on that list told the Sentinel that, while they spoke with Amesty about possible positions and provided her résumés, they were not hired." 

• “Scot Hamilton, who has taught psychology at colleges and a South Florida high school, said it was ‘galling’ that his name and academic credentials, which include a degree from Georgetown University, were included on the document sent to the state.”

• “Joe Durso, a former mayor of Longwood, and Danny Singh, an English teacher at a private Central Florida school, also confirmed they never worked at Central Christian.”

• “A fourth man on the list, J.T. Shim, a Central Florida business consultant, said he was not an employee when the list was sent to the state more than a year ago. Shim said last week he had just been hired by Central Christian and planned to start teaching in the business program later this month.”

“These statements are blatantly false and misleading,” Nunnally wrote. “Neither Rule 6E of the Florida Administrative Code, nor Chapter 1005, Florida Statutes, require that listed faculty at an educational institution be currently employed. It's misleading to suggest that inclusion on either Form 401, Faculty Listing, or Form 402, Instructional and Administrative Personnel, guarantees employment. The forms submitted by CCU to tile Department of Education are used to obtain approval to hire potential faculty members. Each of tile faculty members CCU listed on those Forms indeed filed applications to work at CCU, and six of them in fact were or are employed by CCU.

“It's evident from your article's content that the Sentinel was aware of the law cited above,” she wrote. “Any insinuations of wrongdoing on your part are not only devoid of factual basis but are also misleading.”

However, Orlando Sentinel Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson said the story is accurate, and the paper will not be issuing any retraction.

"The Sentinel stands by its story," she said. "We used public records to back up our reporting, and we also reached out multiple times to talk to Rep. Amesty for context or to set the record straight, which she has chosen not to do. ... Suffice to say, we won't be retracting the story, but we remain open to talking with Rep. Amesty to hear what she has to say."

In a written response, the Sentinel's attorney, Rachel E. Fugate, of Shullman Fugate, dismissed Nunnally's assertions.

"As an initial matter, you do not explain why the specified statements are false," she wrote "Rather, your assertion is based on the fact that neither Florida’s Administrative Code nor Florida Statutes explicitly require that faculty listed at an educational institution actually be employed. Likewise, the relevant authorities do not state that faculty listings can be aspirational, and you have provided no authority for this position. Rather, a straightforward, common sense and reasonable interpretation is that faculty listed at educational institutions are just that: actual — not potential — faculty."

Moreover, Fugate reiterated that the Sentinel would not be issuing a retraction and that its reporters had attempted to reach Amesty for comment.

"The Sentinel can identify no errors in the article that would warrant its correction or removal," Fugate wrote. "Additionally, the Sentinel believes that any lawsuit over the article would be in violation of Florida’s anti-SLAPP law, Section 768.295, Florida Statutes, which prohibits any person from filing a lawsuit without merit and primarily because the defendant exercised the constitutional right of free speech in connection with a public issue. It also provides prevailing party attorney’s fees for lawsuits filed in violation of the statute. Should Ms. Amesty choose to commence litigation, the Sentinel will immediately move to dismiss on the grounds listed above, among others, including seeking attorneys’ fees and costs. 

"Before publishing the article, the Sentinel reached out to Ms. Amesty on multiple occasions, in order to provide her an opportunity to respond to the Sentinel’s questions or provide any other input she deemed relevant," she wrote "But Ms. Amesty chose not to provide any input for the article and now complains that the article was misleading. Because the Sentinel remains dedicated to the accuracy of its reporting, it remains willing to speak with Ms. Amesty to help clear up any confusion or misperceptions. And, of course, if there is any additional information that you believe the Sentinel should take into consideration, we would be happy to do so."