New Woe for Slow-Growth Advocate : Vista Man Whose Initiative Was Defeated Faces Libel Suit

It was not a good week for Vista slow-growth advocate Geoffrey C. Baker.

On Tuesday, Baker watched the restrictive-growth initiative that he wrote go down to defeat at the polls, losing to a City Council-sponsored measure.

Then salt was rubbed into the wound as Baker was hit late this week with a $250,000 libel suit for a letter he wrote and remarks he made during the hard-fought political campaign.

The suit by real estate broker Read Miller alleges that a letter written by Baker exposed Miller to “hatred, contempt, ridicule and obloquy,” said Baker’s attorney, Patrick B. Kelly. Kelly said the suit claims Baker’s letter to the California State Department of Real Estate accuses Miller of “misconduct in his profession and of being a liar.”

Suit Called ‘Frivolous’

Baker said Friday that he was “not worried in the least” over the suit, which he called a “non-issue.” His attorney referred to the suit as “frivolous and specious.”

At issue is a letter Baker wrote on March 24, in which he called on the State Department of Real Estate to revoke Miller’s license because of a letter Miller had mailed to property owners.

Miller’s letter, sent to several hundred owners of vacant property in Vista on his real estate company’s stationery, advised that Baker-written Proposition B was “far worse” than Proposition A, a more lenient City Council-backed growth-management measure, which ultimately was approved by voters Tuesday. In the letter, Miller also urged recipients to donate money for Proposition A.

Baker, in his letter to the State Real Estate Department, accused Miller of violating the Board of Realtors’ ethics code. (The department found no evidence to justify acting on Baker’s request.)

“He wrote a very political letter,” Baker said of Miller’s missive, “and I took him to task for it.” In a news conference March 25, Baker also charged Miller with lying.

“I didn’t utter anything that was untruthful” at the news conference, Baker said Friday.

Miller said he at first sought to avoid a libel suit by arranging for Baker to make a public apology. “I had really hoped that this thing could be resolved without legal action,” Miller said.

Conference Doesn’t Materialize

But a planned news conference at which Baker was to retract the letter he sent to the state Real Estate Department never came off. Baker said the news conference scheme “looked a little one-sided to me.”

Ultimately, Miller chose to file suit, partly at the urging of “a lot of people. I firmly believe it’s everybody’s right to disagree about political matters,” Miller said. “But attacks were made on my integrity . . . and (the letter and news conference) interfered directly with my ability to earn a living.”

Baker, however, sees politics as the overriding factor and quoted President Harry S. Truman’s motto. “I think (Truman) said it best,” Baker said. “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”