Posted on 10/27/2006 5:53:11 AM PDT by Seattle Conservative
A longtime friend and adviser to U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell is fighting the unsealing of his divorce case to hide his "bad behavior and possible illegal actions," his ex-wife has alleged in a court filing.
Angela Douglas, the former wife of lobbyist Ron Dotzauer, also suggested that the improper sealing of the case in 1994 "led to improper practices that would not have otherwise occurred." Her declaration was filed last week and provided to reporters after a Snohomish County Superior Court hearing Tuesday.
"I believe Ron is trying ... to prevent public disclosure of incidents of his poor judgment, bad behavior and possible illegal actions," Douglas said in the filing.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
Reporters have been seeking access to the Dotzauer divorce file since last month in an effort to understand why Cantwell gave him a loan — between $15,000 and $50,000, according to her public-disclosure statements — in 1999 or 2000.
Neither Cantwell nor Dotzauer, who are longtime friends and dated in the mid-1980s, will speak about the transaction, and Douglas said in an interview Tuesday that she does not know why Cantwell gave her ex-husband the money. When Dotzauer worked on Cantwell's 2000 Senate campaign, he was paid $22,000 a month, Douglas said. And when Douglas tried to garnish his wages for failure to pay court-ordered obligations, Cantwell's campaign refused, Douglas said.
>snip
The nature of Mr. Dotzauer's business necessitates making more political contributions than in other businesses. At the federal level there are restrictions on corporate contributions. Personal contributions are more effective. To meet this demand, [Northwest Strategies] pays to Mr. Dotzauer an additional sum each month for purposes of making such contributions. While this is income to Mr. Dotzauer, in reality this is a necessary business expense."
For example, the trial brief said, in April 1994, Dotzauer's company paid him $19,151, plus $3,000 to direct toward political contributions.
Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wynne has said that the 1994 order sealing the divorce file was overly broad and improper. At a hearing Tuesday, he began sifting through the file to determine which documents should be unsealed.
Following the hearing, Dotzauer, First and Dotzauer's other attorney, Camden Hall, were asked about the case and the loan.
"I don't know that you're accurate in using that word, 'loan,' " Hall told a reporter. He declined to elaborate.
First refused to answer questions about the money, first suggesting she didn't know what a reporter was talking about, and then adding: "Ask Sen. Cantwell. We didn't list it. She did."
More from Stephan at soundpolitics: Dotzauer (Cantwell) divorce file to remained sealed until after the election
State Congressional Delegation News by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:08 PM I attended today's hearing on the Dotzauer divorce file. Gene Johnson of the AP has a write-up:
A longtime friend and adviser to U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell is fighting the unsealing of his divorce case to hide his "bad behavior and possible illegal actions," his ex-wife has alleged in a court filing. The filing is here. She wants the file opened and cries foul on her ex-husband's attempt to keep it sealed: What Ron really wants is to be able to keep secret everything in the file he believes will be embarrassing to himself and to Maria Cantwell. Indeed.
The court has to review every document on Dotzauer's list that he wants to keep sealed. The next (and not final) hearing will be on November 3. Dotzauer managed to run down the clock. The file won't be unsealed before the election. http://www.soundpolitics.com/
What utter DRECK the MSM papers are. Not a word about the rumored and partly documented AFFAIR Cantwell had with this dude during TWO of his marriages, or the 'loan' to help him pay his attorneys fees in the divorce fight. Or the possible role of her AFFAIR with him in the break-up of his marriages.
In an earlier day Cantwell would have rightly been derided as a "homewrecker".
Does anyone doubt for a moment that the phrase 'Senator's Affair Cover-up?' would have been the lead headline if Cantwell was a Pubbie?
What scummy hypocritical lowlifes the liberals are...
Hey the vultures at the Chicago Tribune opened up IL Senate candidate Jack Ryan's sealed divorcce files to Actress Jeri Ryan.
Why not a Right wing paper or blogger getting his hands on the Cantwell files?
I heard about this weeks ago on this website and not one of the Seattle MSM tv or newspapers have mentioned a single thing about this.
Its a total liberal media whitewash.
Could it possibly be ( D.,Washington )?
Naw........
Leni
Proud, this is why Rush or bloggers need to get on this.
If htey find out the contents of the files it will go to the Drudgereport
the conservative talk radio station here in Seattle hasn't mentioned this either. Distrubing.
Media bias......I am sure you know the reason. Just as in the famous book where some animals are "more equal" than others and the laws and rules are not applied equally. Well Democrats can't be held to the same standards that Democrats hold Republicans to.
The only good news is that voters can hold both to the same standards, if they somehow learn about what is happening.
Actually, sleeping with a man the week before his wedding to another woman changed my view of Maria. I always assumed she was a lesbian. Know I know she is just a bitch.
Robert Correct, if bloggers can just put the sealed out there it will start a wildfire on Cantwell.
A liberal co-worker of mine who jumps from boyfriend to boyfriend worked at Real Networks when Maria worked there.
She gushes about her all the time and says, "Maria proves that women should run this country."
Paging Jack Ryan, Paging Jack Ryan
What scummy hypocritical lowlifes the liberals are...
Double-Dog-Dittos to that! Good for me, but not for thee.
It was only sex. No one's business what he/she does in private. Some animals are more equal than others. Etc., Etc., Etc., ad nauseum.
That's different. Cantwell is a Democrat, you see . . .
"Why not a Right wing paper or blogger getting his hands on the Cantwell files?"
There aren't any right-wing papers in the Peoples' Republic of Seattle. Stephan at soundpolitics.com has been on this and did get ahold of some of the docs when the files were opened briefly a week or 2 ago.
Yep, if Can't-vote-well was a Pubbie, the MSM would have been all over this. The ACLU would probably have filed (via Freedom of Info Act) long ago to get the files unsealed
Funny how that works, isn't it?? If it were a Pubbie, they would have said REPUBLICAN Senator at least 10 times in the article!
Worth Reading:
http://soundpolitics.com/archives/007079.html
It looks like his ex is fitting your description (and experience)! I'm glad she came out - should have a bit more pull w the judge and others (hopefully)
>When Dotzauer worked on Cantwell's 2000 Senate campaign, he was paid $22,000 a month, Douglas said.
Call me a whore if you like but I'd work on Cantwell's campaign for $22K a month. Of course, I'd try to make sure she loses while cashing the checks. I'd also demand Saturdays off whenever the Huskies have a home game.
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