Here you go!
Posted on 04/14/2006 9:50:07 PM PDT by peggybac
Known for his seemingly perpetual litigation against the Clintons, Larry Klayman is turning his sights on the group he founded, charging in a lawsuit that his successor has "hijacked" the government-watchdog Judicial Watch for personal gain.
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton, Klayman charges, "sent out false and misleading fundraising letters, misused donor money, disparaged Klayman with supporters and the media, and took other actions which increased the damage to Judicial Watch, the donors and Klayman."
Fitton issued a statement to WND stating Klayman's "ridiculous lawsuit is full of lies and distortions which Judicial Watch will address in court. "
He called it a "tactical maneuver designed to distract attention away from the fact that Klayman owes more than a quarter of a million dollars to Judicial Watch."
"This lawsuit is without merit and is an attempt to smear Judicial Watch’s good name and the reputations of Judicial Watch’s fine employees," Fitton said.
Klayman, who has set up a website to present his case, is asking for more than $3.5 million in compensation plus punitive damages.
Fitton took over the Washington, D.C.-based group when Klayman left in the fall of 2003 to run, unsuccessfully, for a U.S. Senate seat in Florida.
"In the two and one half years since I left, Fitton, who is not a lawyer, has taken over Judicial Watch for himself, never filling my position as chairman with a distinguished lawyer to lead the organization," Klayman said. "And Fitton disparaged and harmed my reputation in an attempt to make sure that I, and others who are loyal to me, could never return to lead Judicial Watch."
Lawsuits also have been filed against Fitton in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by a Judicial Watch donor, Louise Benson, and a former director of the group's Miami district office, Sandy Cobas, who also names Judicial Watch in her suit.
Klayman emphasizes Judicial Watch was founded in 1994 as a watchdog to fight for ethics in government. Believing government could not police itself, he says his vision was for the group to be a "true independent counsel" for the people.
Judicial Watch's litigation under Klayman included challenges to President and Mrs. Clinton's Legal Defense Fund, uncovering the "Chinagate" campaign finance scandal, the theft of nuclear codes at Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratories, political abuse of the Internal Revenue Service, charges of misconduct and cover-up at the FBI – both before and after 9-11 – and Vice President Cheney's Energy Task Force.
Klayman criticizes Fitton for allowing Robert G. Mills to remain as head of Judicial Watch's fund-raising department, asserting Mills defrauded donors.
Fitton knew Mills had a "shady fund-raising past and was in bed with Congressman Tom DeLay," Klayman contends.
The complaint says that one month after Klayman left Judicial Watch, the organization sent out a fund-raising letter claiming Klayman still was chairman and general counsel, causing confusion among donors. Contributions were sent to the group, the complaint says, by donors who believed Klayman was still there, "using their donations for proper purposes."
In addition, Klayman contends Fitton and Mills have defrauded donors funds given on the condition they be spent to purchase Judicial Watch's headquarters at 501 School Street, S.W., in Washington. Money designated for the sale, the complaint says, was mingled with operating funds.
Also, contends the complaint, in breech of Klayman's severance agreement, Fitton and other Judicial Watch employees told callers inquiring about Klayman that they could not discuss the reasons for his departure, leaving the erroneous impression he was forced to leave.
Fitton ordered Judicial Watch employees not to speak with Klayman, the complaint asserts, and shortly after Klayman announced his candidacy for the Senate, made a "frivolous demand," to prohibit him from ever mentioning he was founder of Judicial Watch and threatening legal action if he didn't comply.
Klayman also asserts Fitton lied about his past, "passing himself off as a college graduate of George Washington University when Klayman hired him years earlier, when in fact he had not graduated from the school and did not have even an undergraduate college degree."
In a separate suit filed in Miami circuit court, the former director of Judicial Watch's Southern Regional Office, Cobas, alleges Fitton and others took part in disparaging her Cuban and Hispanic heritage, defamed her and took other actions to force her out of Judicial Watch because she was loyal to Klayman.
Klayman said he regrets having "to take strong legal action to preserve this national treasure for all Americans."
"Not even the current leadership of my former organization is above the law," he said. "It's time to set things straight for the future and return Judicial Watch to the millions of Americans who support it. In this renewed era of government scandal and secrecy, the country needs an honest, forceful and effective Judicial Watch."
Man, do I remember how Klayman was Sleeping Beauty to the FR crowd in 1998. He was filing lawsuits against Clinton left and right, and that nutbag judge, Royce Lamberth, was playing along. The bandwidth was burning here, as hearty souls were putting down big coin with their bookies that Big Lar was going to bring Big Bill down!
Turns out it was all a dance for dollars and Lar turned into a pumpkin. I got solicitations from Klayman to the tune of two a week, sometimes. And he wrote books, describing in minute detail, the nefarious dealings of Clinton and his inevitable downfall at the hands of Sheriff Klayman.
If anything reinforced my cynicism about the do-gooders on the right who need just one dollar more so that justice will triumph it was Klayman and his money pit at JW.
I'm surprised he sleeps in the same place two nights in a row after all the benjamins he's scammed off of well-meaning conservatives.
Klayman was Cinderella, not Sleeping Beauty, to some here. I don't know how I could attribute "beauty" to Klayman's ugly mug.
I never gave them a penny and aren't I glad! It certainly made me more cynical.
Hey, there! That's you! Nice to see you again, Terri. And like the previous poster said, tell Don hi for us.
That's the funniest thing I've heard in a long time.
I heard that....
I sent JD $25 or $29.95 one time for a Judicial Watch wrist watch.
NEVER received the watch.
I should have sued. LOL!
These threads remind me of the "good old days," much as I hate that expression, when we use to sit up at night and mock Klayman for hours on end.
LoL!
Did you get my ping on the Duke threads where I found that paragraph we were looking for??????
We are NOT crazy!
If Klayman accidentaly sues himself it will be ok because I dont think he ever won a case
< /blatant intellectualization >
Here you go!
Do you have a picture of the official Judicial Watch badge that they were selling?
The breathless headlines! Threads that went on for days! And, of course, the Klayman cheerleaders with the tin cups were taking advantage of the moment. I'm sure FReepers who didn't have two quarters to rub together were sending their meager disposable dollars to Klayman in the vain hope that he would lead us to the Promised Land of a humiliated CIC.
I never gave him anything either, but I sure wanted to punch him out when, a week after Bush was inaugurated, he filed a lawsuit against Bush's administration for something improperly done during the transition.
That's when the donations went through the floor, Klayman fled to Florida, and ended up, I think, polishing the brass knobs on the restroom doors at a dog track just outside Palm Beach.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!
In other words, Fitton's guilty of a Klayman.
Thanks for proving we're NOT crazy. lol
Didnt he go after Cheney?
Control yourself, Luis. This may go on for quite some time; you don't want to bust a gut before it really gets good.
:-)
Yes!
And Laura Bush!
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