Former Lancaster County Commissioner Molly Henderson has sued Lancaster Newspapers, alleging the company and some of its employees conspired to publish a series of "false and defamatory" news stories and editorials designed to ruin her reputation and turn the public against her.

The complaint, filed Jan. 8 in Chester County Court, claims the newspaper company was motivated by its involvement in the $170 million hotel/convention center project that Henderson opposed while serving as commissioner.

The lawsuit alleges Lancaster Newspapers management, reporters and editors conspired to discredit Henderson in a bid to get her out of office to protect the company's financial interests as a partner in the hotel portion of the project.

Henderson, who joined the commissioners in 2004, lost her bid for re-election in November.

Lancaster Newspapers is named in the lawsuit, along with its chairman, John M. Buckwalter; Intelligencer Journal editor Charles Raymond Shaw; New Era editor Ernest J. Schreiber; and Sunday News editor Marvin I. Adams Jr., associate editor Gilbert A. Smart and staff writer Helen Colwell Adams.

Also named in the suit are New Era staff writer John H. Brubaker III; Intelligencer Journal staff writer David Pidgeon; and Arthur Morris, chairman of the the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority board and a columnist for the Sunday News.

Henderson is seeking more than $50,000 in compensatory damages, legal fees and punitive damages.

Lancaster Newspapers attorney George H. Werner defended the newspapers.

"I believe in all of the articles challenged by Ms. Henderson, the reporting was fair and accurate," he said Tuesday.

Lancaster Newspapers may seek a change in venue for the lawsuit, which Werner believes should have been filed in Lancaster County Court, he said.

Henderson, reached at home Tuesday, declined to say why the suit was filed in Chester County.

"What I would say about the suit is the complaint is clear, and I assume you will post it on your Web site so people can read it for themselves," she said, declining further comment.

Henderson's attorneys, George C. Croner of Philadelphia and William J. Gallagher of West Chester, could not be reached for comment.

The lawsuit alleges the newspapers published "generally neutral and at times favorable" articles about Henderson until she began to question the increased public financing and loan guarantees sought for the hotel/convention center project.

The negative stories about her, the suit alleges, began when Henderson sought to overturn a guarantee by a previous board of commissioners to repay construction bonds on the project if the hotel/convention center were to fail.

The hotel is being developed by Penn Square Partners, which consists of an affiliate of Lancaster Newspapers, Penn Square Ltd. LLC; and an affiliate of High Industries, Penn Square General Corp. Lancaster County Convention Center Authority is developing the center.

The suit alleges the negative articles began several days after the November 2003 election, when Buckwalter allegedly approached Alex Henderson, the former commissioner's husband, on the street and "strenuously objected" to her position on the county bond guarantee.

Within days, the Intelligencer Journal and New Era published articles about the Hendersons obtaining an annual reduction of their real-estate taxes through the Clean & Green program, the suit says.

"The articles' headlines, placement and tone insinuated that (Henderson) and her husband had done something improper … when, in fact, no such impropriety had occurred," according to the suit.

The articles "foreshadowed (the) defendants' purpose and intent to wrongfully use their 'power of the press' to protect (Lancaster Newspapers') ownership and financial interests" in the hotel/convention center project and "retaliate" against Henderson, the suit says.

The "potential financial benefit" to Lancaster Newspapers from the hotel/convention center project "significantly exceeds the annual profits from (its) publishing operations," according to the suit.

The newspapers later used the hiring of former county human services manager Gary Heinke and the sale of Conestoga View nursing home "as vehicles to launch their campaign of false, malicious and defamatory attacks" against Henderson, the suit alleges.

According to the suit, Buckwalter "required" Lancaster Newspapers editors and reporters "to attack (Henderson) for her actions that were contrary to the financial interests of" Penn Square Partners and Lancaster Newspapers.

The suit also alleges Buckwalter "encouraged and expected the editor defendants to attack (Henderson) in their 'opinion' driven editorials."

Buckwalter said Lancaster Newspapers' management has never influenced newspaper coverage of the convention center, the Hendersons or any other issue.

"In all of the years that I have been involved in the management of Lancaster Newspapers, the editorial departments of the Intelligencer Journal, Lancaster New Era and the Sunday News have always maintained editorial independence from management and each other," he said.

"Specifically, the reporting of each of these newspapers surrounding these events has been independent of management influence."

The lawsuit cites several articles and editorials by the newspapers that allegedly contained errors concerning Henderson's involvement in the 2005 sale of Conestoga View, the 2004 hiring of Heinke and her appearances before a grand jury investigating the commissioners' actions in those matters.

The investigation found that Heinke's resume had been falsified and that he had been helped during the hiring process by then-commissioners Dick Shellenberger and Pete Shaub before getting the job.

Heinke, who resigned in 2005, has sued all three commissioners.

The grand jury probe also found that the three commissioners met secretly in 2005 to discuss the sale of Conestoga View before announcing it to the public.

In December 2006, Shaub and Shellenberger pleaded guilty to two violations of the state Sunshine Act for attending two private meetings on the sale. Henderson pleaded guilty to one violation for attending one of those meetings.

The lawsuit says the newspapers ran stories that wrongly accused Henderson of attending both meetings, of knowing that Heinke had falsified his resume and of participating in the "secret sale" of Conestoga View.

The suit claims the New Era published five front-page stories erroneously referring to the "secret sale" of Conestoga View before running a correction/clarification on May 9, 2007, that said the commissioners authorized the county to negotiate the sale, but the sales agreement was approved in public.

" … Hundreds of thousand of people read the five stories falsely accusing (Henderson) of participating in a 'secret sale' of Conestoga View, but only a fraction of this same readership read the belated 'corrections/clarifications' … ," the suit says.

Henderson's suit also contends the newspapers used Morris — a frequent critic of all three commissioners — to further their attacks on her.

It alleges Morris "knowingly made false accusations" against Henderson in letters to the editor and guest columns in the Sunday News and New Era in January 2007.

In an Intelligencer Journal article published Dec. 15, 2006, Morris is "the only member of the 'public'" quoted, the lawsuit says.

Morris was not a member of the convention center authority board at the time.

Reached at home, Morris said he had not had time to "digest" the lawsuit or retain legal counsel, "so I probably shouldn't comment" on it.

Schreiber, Adams and Jon Ferguson, news editor of the Intelligencer Journal, defended their newspapers. Shaw was on vacation Tuesday.

"In terms of the charges brought by Molly Henderson, I'll stand by the fairness and accuracy of our reporting," Ferguson said.

Schreiber said, "We're confident that if and when a jury looks at what the commissioners did and what the New Era reported, its members will conclude that we described Commissioner Henderson's role fairly."

Adams said the Sunday News "criticized Commissioner Henderson on a number of county issues" but "treated her fairly and reported her side."

"She also requested and was given space in the Sunday News to further explain her stands," Adams said.

"We welcomed and printed opinion pieces and letters to the editor from her supporters. When we agreed with her decisions as a commissioner, we gave her credit.

"I am confident we will prevail in court."

E-mail: bwallace@lnpnews.com

E-mail: preilly@lnpnews.com