miss ann's long legal struggle against the city is over... or is it?

the city and miss ann recently reached a settlement in the city's two-year lawsuit against her and the dominatrix business she formerly ran out of her house.

miss ann (under her birth name melyssa donaghy) has been commenting on various blogs trying to spin the settlement as a victory. similarly, city attorney kobi wright claims that the city achieved its objective in shutting down her business. but while the indy star article doesn't list all the details of the settlement, it seems clear that this resolution is at best a draw. as part of the settlement, miss ann has agreed to stop practicing her dominatrix business out of her home, so this is clearly not a victory for her. and the city did not get a conviction, nor will miss ann pay any fines (in fact, if anything the lawsuit radicalized miss ann, turning her into a committed peterson opponent), so it doesn't really seem like the city won, either.

but you haven't heard the last of miss ann! in the past months she's taken it upon herself to become one of the city's most vocal property tax protesters. in fact, just last sunday morning she led a micro-protest in front of the mayor's house. (i know i said that if you hate the mayor, it would make more sense to protest in front of his house than in front of the governor's mansion, but 10 people at 8:30 on a sunday morning is kind of creepy.) so we're destined to keep hearing about her at least until mayor peterson vanquishes that ballard guy in november's election.

not only that, but melyssa is now considering a countersuit against the city, for the mental anguish she's gone through. so even after ballard loses, we might keep on hearing about miss ann for ages to come. incidentally, if you are having trouble understanding why, after complaining so vociferously about all the taxpayer money that has admittedly been wasted on her case, miss ann would want to waste tons more by countersuing, well, don't worry... it doesn't make sense.

so what have we learned from this sad, sordid tale? blowback is a bitch. the mayor/the city tried to score some political points by shutting down a dominatrix who was running a business in a residential area. while they eventually succeeded, they also transformed that dominatrix into a political activist and vocal opponent of the mayor. two years ago, when the case started, i was one of the only local bloggers who even took the case seriously. but now that she's become a devoted peterson foe, she's gary welsh's best buddy and a champion of the bart lies crowd. whether you consider her a credible peterson opponent is up for debate, but it does seem like she wouldn't be one at all if the city hadn't tried to shut her down back in '05.¶