Former controller testified in commissioners' defamation case
Former Butler County Controller John R. “Jack” McMillin testified this morning that former county Commissioner Jim Eckstein was not the person who told him the rumor about former Commissioner Dale Pinkerton being involved in a kickback deal.
Pinkerton is suing Eckstein for defamation.
McMillin testified that county Treasurer Diane Marburger first told him there was a rumor about Pinkerton giving county human resources director Lori Altman an extra 20 percent pay hike in exchange for Pinkerton getting out of a drunken-driving arrest.
Altman's husband, Scott Altman, is a Butler state police trooper.
The Altmans are suing Eckstein in a separate lawsuit being tried simultaneously in court. Eckstein is accused of spreading the rumor with the intent of hurting Pinkerton's reputation.
The trial continues this afternoon.
