It all started with a request for campaign signs.
Northwood Civic Association President Joseph Krause said his first interaction with GOP mayoral candidate Billy Ciancaglini came last December, when he asked for some placards to show support for the South Philly lawyer.
Since then, as previously reported by the Times, the relationship has soured considerably, and now the two men are poised to square off in the Court of Common Pleas.
Krause on Sept. 13 filed a lawsuit against Ciancaglini for defamation, slander and invasion of privacy. He’s seeking damages, though the complaint doesn’t specify a dollar amount.
The litigation comes after an Aug. 22 post on Ciancaglini’s campaign Facebook page in which he claimed Krause had been harassing him on social media for several months. It also implied Krause sent the candidate photographs of his penis, which Krause denied.
Krause, in his lawsuit, says that Ciancaglini falsely accused him of harassment and stalking, as well as being mentally ill and an unstable father.
According to the complaint, Ciancaglini and his supporters have caused Krause financial losses and damage to his reputation.
Ciancaglini doesn’t believe Krause has a good case and said he isn’t worried about the lawsuit being a distraction to his campaign. He is running against heavily favored Democratic incumbent Mayor Jim Kenney.
“It’s nothing I’m worried about,” Ciancaglini told the Times. “I’m not spending time working on that before November 5th.”
Krause referred questions to his attorney, William Fox, who did not return a request for comment.
Ciancaglini is still irked that Krause continues to run a public Facebook group with 24 members called “Childish Ciancaglini – The Joke Candidate.”
“The guy still has a page up about me, to this day, and he’s complaining about being harassed while he keeps that page up,” Ciancaglini said.
“I don’t want to say anything else that’s going to get him to file something else,” he added.
A Facebook page Krause started in July appears to be what sparked the feud. Krause said he created a support page for Ciancaglini, while the candidate took it as a way to impersonate him and mislead the public.
Krause’s lawsuit said the page remained up on Facebook for less than a day and contained no negative statements about Ciancaglini.
A hearing in the defamation case has yet to be scheduled. ••
Jack Tomczuk can be reached at [email protected].
