Schwarzenegger hit with lawsuit; claim alleges election eve smear of groper accuser

Smoking Gun ^ | 12/8/2003 | Anonymous

[Howlin]

I thought I remembered her being involved!

[Howlin]

And sure enough, there is her name right on the complaint!

[Map Kernow]

Since this "lawsuit" clearly implicates Schwarzenegger's constitutional rights of petition and free speech, the first move I'd make is to file a motion under California's "anti-SLAPP" statute, Code of Civil Procedure sec. 425.16. The burden will be on Allred to show she has a case. If she loses the motion, case is gone. Even if she wins the motion, Schwarzenegger can appeal and put the case on ice for ~ a year or so.

[Map Kernow]

All that this means is that Gloria Allred was successful in her shopping for a new client. Period. Just another example of a celebrity attorney finding a sensational case to argue in the media.

There is no more dangerous spot to be on the planet than the space directly between Gloria Allred and a TV camera.

[pogo101]

I understand what you're saying, but I don't think the sequence is all that relevant once one accepts that Walsh's memo/email clearly did NOT state that any information that one could find about "Rhonda Miller" in the public-info databases to which his memo referred, necessarily pertained to THE SAME Rhonda Miller who had accused Arnold of naughtiness.

[octobersky]

LOL. So true!

[Grut]

The likely fact of the matter is -- and not that it matters -- is that the Arnold staffer DIDN'T KNOW WHETHER OR NOT it was the same Rhonda Miller.

Why do you think it doesn't matter? It's just about a textbook example of 'reckless disregard', if true.

[Sabertooth]

Miller claims that the Schwarzenegger smear began an hour after she made her charges public, with campaign spokesman Sean Walsh sending journalists an e-mail directing them to the Superior Court's web site, where they could access Miller's lengthy criminal history. The felon in question, however, was a different Rhonda Miller.

Last minute smears: live by them, die by them.

[pogo101]

All the email/memo said was (to paraphrase, despite my quotation marks), "Check out this database of public records. Type in 'Rhonda Miller' and see what you get."

At no point did the memo say that any results obtained on "Rhonda Miller" pertained to THE Rhonda Miller who'd accused Arnold. Such was left to the judgment of whoever might go look up such information.

I don't know how many different times I can say this simple fact. It's not slander to say, truthfully, that "there's this database, and you might get some results if you type in this name." If you can show me a controlling case holding that such is defamatory, I'll eat my law degree.

[Young Rhino]

No. However, Tom McClintock's behavior before, during, and after the election suggests that he would like nothing better than for Arnold to fail. On the national level, one sees the same thing with Pat Buchanan's attitude toward George Bush.

[Cinnamon Girl]

Give it a rest, Gloria.

[Sabertooth]

Here's the deal as I remember it.

Arnold staffer puts out email to media advising something like, "If you go to such and such database and enter 'Rhonda Miller,' you will find out interesting things from public records."

I don't recall the specifics myself, but here are some of the pertinent threads, found by using the keyword Rhonda Miller.

A few of them I just added myself while searching the keyword Schwarzenegger, around the 6th and 7th of October. Seems to me I recall a few other threads on Miller that aren't on my list, but I'm not certain. I thought the thread breaking her story on FR was a few hundred posts. If so, maybe someone else can find it and add the "Rhonda Miller" keyword.

Wasn't some of the info regarding the felonious (mistaken identity) Rhonda Miller unearthed at FR, and phoned in to John and Ken on the 6th? Or were they lurking here and found it? Again, I could be wrong, but I have a vague recollection of something like that.

A Party of Gropers
			Posted by nickcarraway On 10/06/2003 10:57:13 PM PDT with 73 comments The American Prowler ^ | 10/7/2003 | George Neumayr "We need to change our party's image," said California Republican leaders, explaining their early enthusiasm for Arnold Schwarzenegger. If Schwarzenegger wins today, they will certainly get their wish. The face of the California Republican Party will become that of a Hollywood groper. In the final days of the recall, Republican leaders became exactly what they opposed during the Clinton years: excuse-making, shoot-the-messenger shills for a law-breaking libertine. For the sake of one cheap win, Republicans embraced a Clintonian charmer credibly accused of groping up to 15 women (at last count). Where is the honor in this victory? Where even is...
California Recall Election Enters Final Stretch [has info about Rhonda Miller refutation]
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John & Ken Show: Latest Arnold Accuser (the ape woman) Is Lying!
			Posted by ambrose On 10/06/2003 5:37:12 PM PDT with 72 comments John & Ken Show: Latest Arnold Accuser (the ape woman) Is Lying!
ARNOLD ACCUSER WANTS MSNBC APOLOGY
			Posted by kattracks On 10/29/2003 11:49:12 PM PST with 70 comments New York Post ^ | 10/30/03 | DON KAPLAN October 30, 2003 -- A woman who accused Arnold Schwarzenegger of groping her is now threatening to sue MSNBC and possibly host Joe Scarborough. Lawyers for Rhonda Miller, a Hollywood stunt double who appeared in at least two of Schwarzenegger's films, have sent MSNBC a legal letter. They have demanded a retraction and on-air apology directly from Scarborough, an ex-GOP Congressman, for damaging comments a guest made on his show. "We think an appropriate retraction would be for Scarborough to state uncategorically that any statements that Rhonda Miller was a felon or had a criminal record . . . are...
Calif: Close enough for government work [says FR & KFI retaliated against Arnold accuser]
			Posted by John Jorsett On 10/15/2003 7:57:09 AM PDT with 38 comments Pittsburg Post-Gazette ^ | October 12, 2003 | Dennis Roddy Shortly after she became the 16th woman to say Arnold Schwarzenegger had groped, fondled or otherwise sexually harried her, Rhonda Miller was gang raped by politics. Lawyer Gloria Allred tells the story this way. She got a call from Miller, a 53-year-old stunt double who worked on two of Schwarzenegger's films. Miller told Allred that Schwarzenegger had pulled up her shirt and snapped a photo of her breasts and had groped her during the filming of two of his movies. Last Monday, Allred parked Miller before a bank of television cameras. Miller read a statement, refused all questions and fled...
John and Ken Stick it to Gloria Allred and Rhonda Miller Again!
			Posted by doug from upland On 10/07/2003 4:36:25 PM PDT with 70 comments John and Ken Show, KFI Los Angeles | 10-7-03 | doug from upland John and Ken are making good use of the 50,000 watts they are given from Mon-Fri on KFI in Los Angeles. Gloria Allred and her client Rhonda Miller have been outed for the second consecutive day. We heard the story yesterday that Miller, the woman who accused the next California governor of lifting up her shirt and snapping a picture of her boobs during filming of a movie, actually has been shown to be a liar about the event. Two witnesses came forward yesterday, one of whom actually took the picture of the willing Miller. Arnold was not even in...
California: Schwarzenegger refutes Rhonda Miller's accusations
			Posted by John Jorsett On 10/06/2003 4:51:55 PM PDT with 29 comments KFI Radio, AM640 Los Angeles, John and Ken | October 6, 2003 John and Ken were just reading a press release (haven't been able to find it online yet) from the Schwarzenegger camp about stuntwoman Rhonda Miller's accusations that Schwarzenegger pulled up her shirt and photographed her breasts, later pinning the picture to the trailer ceiling, and leaning back in his chair making comments about it. Schwarzenegger denies that the incident ever happened, saying that there were many photographs on the trailer ceiling and theat he would make crude comments when new ones were added, but that he did not take Miller's nor was he present in the trailer when it was...

[Map Kernow]

Why do you think it doesn't matter? It's just about a textbook example of 'reckless disregard', if true.

And why do you think that would be actionable under California law? California Elections Code sec. 20501 requires that libel or slander made during an election be "willfully and knowingly made" to be actionable---"reckless disregard" doesn't cut it, pal.

My prediction is that the lawsuit will be flattened on CCP sec. 425.16 motion under Beilenson v. Superior Court and its progeny.

See you back here within the year.

[B Knotts]

I disagree. I think Tom McClintock wants Gov. Schwarzenegger to succeed. He perhaps questions whether he is fully committed to success, perhaps.

But so far, I admit to being impressed with Arnold's approach, apart from the envirowacko-type stuff.