Explosive lawsuit alleges ‘conflicted’ reporter exposed candidate’s romantic scandal

Mandela Barnes, Wisconsin’s former lieutenant governor, filed a defamation suit Tuesday against the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel over a story the paper ran while he was competing in the Democratic primary for governor, Urban Milwaukee reports.

The suit says the article concerned his consensual sex life and damaged his reputation. It also alleges that a female political reporter at the paper, who it says had an intermittent sexual relationship with Barnes for several years starting around 2018, took part in the reporting. She isn’t named, though the complaint indicates she wasn’t one of the story’s two bylined authors.

The story dropped as Barnes was fighting for the Democratic nomination for Wisconsin's gubernatorial race this year. Even before the story was published, key state leaders, including outgoing Gov. Tony Evers, coalesced around Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who ultimately won the nomination and the general election.

Per the complaint, Barnes’s campaign told the paper about the relationship on July 30 and asked that she be kept off the story. The paper agreed there was a conflict, took the “Conflicted Reporter” off the matter and promised that colleagues would redo parts of her work, the suit says. The article was published hours later. Barnes’s lawyers contend there wasn’t enough time to independently rebuild her reporting, and that the paper never told readers about any of it.

The article was headlined “Sources detail concerns about Mandela Barnes’ behavior toward women.” Barnes said he disputes it and that the paper refused to correct it. His attorney, Michael Cerjak, demanded retractions two weeks ago.

Barnes wants damages and a jury trial. As a public figure, he must prove the Journal Sentinel acted with actual malice.

Journal Sentinel editor Greg Borowski said, “The Journal Sentinel stands by our reporting.” He said the story was vetted by editors and lawyers and that Barnes was able to respond before it ran. According to Urban Milwaukee, Borowski didn’t deny the relationship, but said that reporter had no part in the published story.