Edgefield County schools superintendent Dr. Mary Rice Crenshaw has filed a civil lawsuit against three county residents which lists “fraudulent misrepresentation, defamation, civil conspiracy and intentional infliction of emotional distress” as causes for the action in what she says was the midst of a public “smear campaign” against her.

The filing identifies Edgefield County residents James Jackson, Charles Kemp and John Brown as members of the citizen’s group “Edgefield County Citizen Taskforce Against Corruption in Education” and says it is the entity responsible for the website www.firecrenshaw.com. The site is no longer active, but once listed around 200 “signers” of an online petition to have Dr. Crenshaw removed from her position as superintendent.

The suit also claims the group was the impetus behind a 2009 S.C. State Ethics Commission investigation of Crenshaw that yielded no charges and found no evidence of unethical conduct. The filing says that Crenshaw was also the subject of a “forced audit” upon her travel expenditures.

Among the damages sought by the lawsuit are that the defendants “cease and desist their ongoing campaign of unfounded allegations”, with compensatory damages and consequential damages to be determined at trial along with attorney fees.