Posted on 09/12/2022 9:25:09 AM PDT by grundle
Sep. 12—Lawyers representing Project Veritas, which made an undercover video of a Greenwich assistant principal appearing to admit hiring discrimination against Catholics, conservatives, and people over 30, has responded angrily to a demand by the state attorney general's office that the organization preserve all material potentially relevant to its investigation.
PRESERVATION ISSUE
DEMAND: Connecticut attorney general's office wants Project Veritas to preserve all material potentially relevant to a civil rights investigation the office has opened in response to a covert video the group made of comments by an assistant principal in Greenwich.
RESPONSE: Project Veritas wants that demand "retracted immediately," citing Connecticut's shield law for the news media and saying the attorney general's letter contains a "thinly-veiled threat" against it.
In a Sept. 2 letter to Project Veritas President James O'Keefe, Deputy Associate Attorney General Gregory K. O'Connell said the attorney general's office had "opened a civil rights investigation into the possibility of discriminatory employment practices in the Greenwich Public Schools."
He instructed O'Keefe to "preserve all material potentially relevant to this investigation," adding that O'Keefe "must take immediate action to prevent the deletion or spoilation of any such material."
O'Connell went on to say that his office anticipates "issuing subpoenas for relevant material," adding that if the investigation "substantiates a pattern or practice of illegal conduct, we may initiate appropriate litigation to enforce federal and state law."
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
This shows that they are using this “investigation of discrimination” as a pretext to go fishing through PV’s records hoping to find something they can use against them. It’s actually a target letter.
Project Veritas put out a video on this. In the video they show his lawyers response letter. Basically the AG’s actions are illegal on both a state and federal level. Due to this being journalism.
Why is that bad? Lawyers send out letters like that all the time to ensure that relevant evidence held by third parties isn't destroyed.
It is bad because it is nothing but a fishing expedition to go after PV by any means possible. PV along with Landmark Legal are probably the most effective weapons we have against the left.
That was NOT a "balk"!
That was a pitch aimed directly at the head.
JI was a great East of the River paper. It was a right of center paper when I left in 2005. Any CT FReepers know if it still a good paper?
You mean like the states are supposed to preserve their voting data?
Sounds like they are trying hard to avoid recognizing PV as a news/journalist organization. Do not accept their rhetoric.
No, its a thinly veiled threat.
It could be. But sending out preservation letters is very standard practice. Just sayin’.
Connecticut is a two party consent state. If the video was recorded in CT, it is most likely illegal. On the other hand, Greenwich is on the New York border so it’s very possible it was recorded in NY, which has no such law.
They didn’t “balk” they refused and referred the AG to the First Amendment.
Also, though admittedly it’s been a while (law school?) since I’ve dealt with it since I’m in a one party state anyway, IIRC you can’t complain about being recorded if you’re in a public place where you have no expectation of privacy in the first place.
wipe it with a cloth- heck- hillary got away with it
Because statutes protect journalists from being subpoenaed to produce records (and by extension protect journalists from being told to preserve records so they can be subpoenaed).
Veritas means Truth. Since when is Truth considered journalism? /s
Right - I saw that in the article, so that may be the case in Connecticut. It isn’t everywhere, and I wonder if there are exceptions. In any case, it sounds like they’re concerned that this school may have broken the law.
Here's the Project Veritas version
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