SANDLE, REIFF and YOUNG, P.C.
Posted on 05/11/2007 7:32:14 AM PDT by rface
SANDLE, REIFF and YOUNG, P.C.
50 E Street, S.E., Suite 300
Washington DC 20003
Telephone: 202.479.XXXX FAX: 202.479.XXXX
May 10, 2007
VIA E-Mail
Mr. James C Robinson FreeRepublic.com PO Box 9771 Fresno, CA 93794
Re: Statement re Democratic National Committee
Dear Mr Robinson:
We are writing on behalf of our client, the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
A post by “coffee260” on FreeRepublic.com today states that this morning, on the Quinn & Rose show on XM, co-host Quin stated that the DNC chairman, Gov. Howard Dean had called Gov Kathleen Sebelius (D-Kans) “around 5:00am on morning after a tornado destroyed the town of Greensburg, Kansas and discussed with here what to say about the tornado and how to blame the war in Iraq and the Bush administration on a slow response to the aftermath.”
The statement was made by Mr Quinn, repeated on FreeRepublic, is demonstrably, unequivocally and absolutely false. Gov Dean had no such conversation with Gov Sebelius, ever.
No effort was made by FreeRepublic to contact anyone at the DNC for comment or to check the accuracy of these statements before they were published. FreeRepublic not only repeated this statement, but further stressed that Quinn’s “source” was extremely reliable and in a position that would give him direct knowledge of these revelations.
The statements quoted above are false and defamatory, are libelous and slanderous and clearly threaten to interfere with the DNC’s operations and ability to solicit support and raise funds by predjuding the organization in the eyes of the Democratic Party supporters and the public. For these reasons, we demand that FreeRepublic immediately cease and desist from Further dissemination of the above quoted statements or any statements similar in substance and immediately post a retraction of these statements in a location on its web pages at least as prominent as that on which the original story appeared.
Please let us know by noon, May 11, 2007, whether you intend to comply with these requests.
Thanks for your time and immediate attention to this important matter.
Sincerely yours,
(Signature)
Joseph E Sandler
SANDLE, REIFF and YOUNG, P.C.
Yeah, but 'yourself' is only one word :)
Except that if you read a post on FR, you may actually LEARN something. Reading posts on DU means you will be perpetually stupid.
Posted by Jim Robinson to bcsco 05/11/2007 7:56:13 PM CDT · #804
Oh, it’s real all right. A google of the lawyer guy’s email address that I replied to last night and received a reply back today with a plain text copy of the letter goes straight to his page on the DNC lawfirm’s web site.
How about Charles?
Hey .. somebody fill me in .. when did the dems get rid of the First Amendment ..??
Well .. until they do .. tell them to go fly a kite!!
Well, yeah, it could be,
but there's a problem with that.
Consider "Cosmo:"
Cosmo!Could be "Cosmo." But
Cosmo, Cosmo bo Bosmo Bonana fanna fo Fosmo
Fee fy mo Mosmo
Cosmo!
They want us to cease and decist repeating what someone else said?????????????????? Yea, I’m intimidated by that... they sue and it’ll make the national press for sure, which is the last thing they’ll want.
Thanks, Fearless Leader, for telling us what happened with this letter. I hope the Dems are as panicky as it indicates!
Don’t we have any lawyers on our side? Every time they start this crap we need to start the same with MoveOn.org etc...
We are constantly on the defensive against these stupid liberals, and this has the potential to SHUT FR DOWN!
“Charles would be “Chuck” and I think
we just can’t go there!”
Maybe, you can’t, but, I can.
When these pigs squeel, it means we have found the mark. Pinch harder on the lying bastards backsides.
I was watching the news on TV last evening and they aired a segment of Schwartzenegger talking to reporters about the fires. He distinctly blamed the war in Iraq on problems they were having combating the fires. Needless to say, my jaw dropped.
They aired the segment a second time and I noticed they’d clipped out that one sentence.
To the DNC: Sue us
A Free Republic poster writes that he's a regular reader who enjoys our views on a variety of issues. He writes that he's enjoyed our posts in which we use our skills as lawyers to weigh in on legal issues. He draws our attention to the cease-and-desist letter from an attorney representing the DNC to Free Republic. He asks whether the letter's threat of of a defamation claim is bona bide or not. In my view, the letter is sheer thuggery that recalls the same maneuever made on behalf of John Kerry in the 2004 campaign.
He writes that the attorney representing the DNC has sent two such cease-and-desist letter, one to him and one to XM Radio. The letters relate to his post headed "Howard Dean told Kansas Gov. Sebelius to Lie" in which relayed relayed something he heard earlier that morning on an XM talk radio show called The Quinn & Rose Show.
Our reader writes that he was listening to the Quinn & Rose show when host Jim Quinn told his audience that Howard Dean called Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius early one morning after the tornado had destroyed the town of Greensburg, Kansas. According to Quinn, Howard Dean discussed with Governor Seblius what to say about the tornado and how to blame the war in Iraq and the Bush administration on a slow response to the aftermath.
According to our reader, Quinn also said that Governor Sebelius called Senator Sam Brownback's office only to learn he wasn't there but then called him on his cell phone and reached him while he was in his car were she confessed to him that she had been instructed by her party leadership (Howard Dean) on how to politicize the tornado's destruction of Greensburg and attack the White House and the Iraq war for a seemingly slow response. She reassured the Senator that her allegations didn't blame him or fellow Kansas Senator Pat Roberts for the purported slow response.
As Raw Story reports, the War Room site of the Quinn and Rose show still alleges that the Dean-Sebelius conversation took place. Raw Story also reports that Governor Sebelius has issued the following statement:
I am outraged that the Quinn & Rose show has aired a report suggesting that my efforts to highlight the need to replace National Guard equipment lost in Iraq are inspired by anything other than my responsibilities as commander-in-chief of the Kansas National Guard. The accusation that I received a call from anyone, encouraging me to take on this issue following the devastating tornado in Greensburg, is one-hundred-percent false -- period.The attorney who sent the letter on behalf of the DNC is attorney Joseph Sandler, representing the Democratic National Committee. In my view, Sandler is a thug representing a bunch of reprobates and bullies. Here's why.
"Making up stories like this, designed to turn the tragedy at Greensburg into some kind of political circus, is a shameful affront to the citizens of Greensburg and the citizen soldiers of the National Guard."
Under the First Amendment, as construed by the Supreme Court in New York Times v. Sullivan, citizens are protected from defamation claim by public figures so long as the statements in issue are lacking in "actual malice," i.e, knowledge of their falsehood or reckless disregard to whether they are false or not.
Accordingly, our reader's Free Republic post based on the statements of Jim Quinn protect him from a defamation claim. Whether Quinn and those whe broadcast his program have such immunity is a different question, but the same constitutional protection applies to them. Professor and First Amendment expert Eugene Volokh coincidentally makes a closely related point based on the Sullivan case today.
"Actual malice" is a tough standard for public figures to overcome. That's why defamation claims by public figures have essentially disappeared since the Times case. Under the Sullivan case, the First Amendment affords wide latitutude for the discussion of public figures as well as issues of public concern.
Sandler's letter to Free Republic incorporates no element of "actual malice." It is couched in the old-fashioned common law of defamation that the Supreme Court killed for public figures in the Times case. It does not even allege that Jim Quinn had knowledge or the statements' falsity or made them with reckless disregard of their truth or falsity.
We therefore associate ourselves with our reader's statements regarding Governor Dean and invite Mr. Sandler to sue us for defamation as he threatens to sue Free Republic. This is to put him and his client on notice, however, that we intend to seek our attorney's fees under federal law for the assertion of a frivolous claim if he does so.
Posted by Scott at 02:56 PM
Check out Power Line—they’ve joined the fun!
All I can say is, what a bunch of pusses...
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