Posted on 05/28/2004 8:54:57 AM PDT by sidewalk
Attorney Mary Jo White is prepared to move forward in her investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against Albany Bishop Howard Hubbard without any potential evidence from clients of attorney John Aretakis.
White this week issued Aretakis an ultimatum that if she did not hear from him by Thursday, she would take it to mean he is declining to cooperate with her investigation.
White was hired in February by the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese Review Board at more than $700 an hour to issue a public report on widespread homosexual allegations against Hubbard.
She was looking to conduct interviews with Aretakis' clients Andrew Zalay and Anthony Bonneau.
Zalay claimed a sexual relationship his brother had with Hubbard caused him to commit suicide in 1978, while Bonneau contends he encountered Hubbard while working as a male prostitute in Albany in the 1970s. White was asking Aretakis to allow her to perform forensic testing on the original suicide note written by Thomas Zalay to determine its authenticity.
"It is regrettable that the parties who have publicly accused Bishop Hubbard have declined to be interviewed or to permit the independent testing of the original typed document made public by Andrew Zalay," said White in a release.
"John Aretakis has declined our repeated invitations to meet privately in order to advance the investigation of alleged sexual misconduct by Bishop Hubbard," she added.
Aretakis, who represents nearly 100 alleged victims of clergy sex abuse, has publicly criticized the legitimacy of White's investigation, largely because she is being paid by the diocese to come forward with a report that could potentially damage Hubbard's reputation.
"You have tried to advance a false perception that the Albany Sexual Misconduct Panel is your client, but the truth is that Bishop Hubbard is the ultimate and real client who is paying your bills and indemnifying your firm," said Aretakis in a letter to White.
"As you know, this means you and your firm is ethically prohibited from any action which would not advance your client's interests," he added.
He also said it wouldn't be in the best interests of his clients to meet with White, because if she discredits their testimony in her report, it could hurt them if they decided to take their cases to court in the future.
On that, attorney Paul Wein says Aretakis has legitimate reasons to think it wouldn't be in his clients' best interest to speak with White.
"If I had a valid case, I wouldn't go that route," said Wein, of the Guilderland-based law firm of Wein, Young, Fenton & Kelsey. "I'd sort it out in the courtroom." However, Wein added that since the statute of limitations on both cases has long run out, it probably wouldn't hurt in these cases to allow the witnesses to talk with White.
Despite the friction, Aretakis did give White the opportunity to meet him in a public setting with the media available to ask questions. White declined. He also said he would provide some information on the letter he released in February that Rev. John Minkler allegedly wrote claiming there were a number of local priests engaged in homosexual activities, including Hubbard.
Minkler committed suicide in his Watervliet home shortly after the letters were released and just after signing an affidavit stating he did not write the letter.
Minkler's suicide was confirmed last month by the Albany County Coroner's Office, but the suicide note he left behind was not made public or given to White as evidence in her investigation.
White's attempts at interviewing a close friend of Minkler's were called into question last month when her investigators converged on the deceased priest's 11th-floor office in the Stratton Veteran's Administration Medical Center without authorization from hospital officials.
The investigators invited Minkler's unnamed female friend to meet them there, but refused to interview her with Aretakis in the room.
White later stated she was "not aware" her investigators needed permission to enter Minkler's office and apologized for the incident.
Hubbard has staunchly denied all sexual allegations lodged against him, and the Albany County District Attorney's Office decided not to launch any kind of investigation into the Minkler suicide or the Albany Diocese's handling of past clergy sex abuse cases.
Suicide? Maybe. The media had to hound the ME at his home after almost 2 months of silence where Fr Minkler had already been buried within a week after death. The DA Pauly Clyne is silent too. Why the delay? Why the refusal to state the (obvious ???) Cause of Death of this "suicide"? Why not give the "suicide note" to Whitewash at least? Why all the secrecy? Very interesting, and suspicious.
Right on. Good for Aretakis, he ain't wet behind the ears.
The media and the public will be interested in what and how the questions are asked of Zalay and Bonneau by Whitewash in a public forum, instead of buying her conclusions after sandbagging them in private. Hubbard had better cough up more money for her to do more.
it was my understanding i read it in the timesunion that aretakis would only speak to white in a town meeting forum WITHOUT his clients though. so white wouldnt get to talk to his clients no matter what she did.
what does he have to lose by getting the letter tested by another lab that is watched by others??
The above is from Troy Record May 20th. It appears Aretakis was willing to meet Whitewash with the first step of meeting in public without his clients, and then "see how it goes".
Whitewash has always claimed she wants the truth and wants to get to the bottom of it. But her actions don't jive with this claim. She can accommodate the media, and public, and Aretakis by asking questions in a public forum, Aretakis might even have most of the answers for her. If not, he might refer them to his clients or even present them at a future meeting, if there is good will on her part.
What is Whitewash afraid of? Is she afraid of questions by the media and Aretakis? I thought she wanted the truth, and if by those questions the truth will surface sooner, all the better. She can't have it both ways.
The media would surely be interested in how hard she has tried to get an answer on the Cause of Death of Fr. Minkler. Failing that, what satisfactory explanation she could provide.
what does he have to lose by getting the letter tested by another lab that is watched by others??
When you win the big state lottery, would you mind handing the ticket over so I could have it "tested for authenticity" first?
Maybe Aretakis was born at night, but definitely not last night.
Whitewash has seen over 200 people so far, and looked at a bunch of stuff no doubt, if ALL of the stuff she went over suggest there is absolutely no chance Hubbard could be lying, then she wouldn't care what Zalay or Bonneau have to say or holding. Conversely, if she had critical info indicating Hubbard is lying but ain't telling, then she should cooperate and hand over her stuff to Aretakis for examination. You don't think her client would mind do you?
Aretakis wants to meet in public
Updated: 5/28/2004 6:50 PM
By: Edward Muir
http://www.capitalnews9.com/content/headlines/?ArID=76751&SecID=33
Attorney John Aretakis talked about Mary Jo White and her investigation into sex abuse allegations against Bishop Howard Hubbard. Aretakis and White have been trading nasty letters about where and when they might meet. Aretakis insisted he will only meet White in public with the media present.
"They're just absolutely afraid to meet with me in public, and I don't know what's wrong with in public because if I do ask her something about the investigation, she would say I can't answer that because it's part of the investigation, and of course I would abide by that," Aretakis said.
White was hired by the Diocesan Sexual Misconduct Review Board to look into sexual abuse claims against Bishop Hubbard involving Thomas Zalay, who committed suicide in 1978, and Anthony Bonneau. She is paid $770 an hour by the diocese, and Aretakis said she therefore cannot conduct an impartial investigation. Zalay's brother, Andrew, agreed.
"The Bishop hired and retained Mary Jo White to clear Bishop Hubbard. Because that is her purpose and is why she was hired, she is not independent and has conflict of interest," Zalay said.
However, White maintained she is running a thorough, independent investigation and has interviewed more than 250 people. In a statement, she said Aretakis is holding up the investigation by not allowing his clients to be interviewed and by not turning over documents. An Albany Diocese spokesman stands by White's statement and believes she will find out the truth.
In the meantime, White's deadline for Aretakis to turn over documents has passed, and it appears the two may never meet.
Thanks for the update.
This is what I had expected. Now that Aretakis has made it clear he does not even expect Whitewash to answer any of his questions which is fine by him, it appears Whitewash is really afraid to be scrutinized by the media and public, about what questions she does NOT ask or how she would come to certain conclusions later on based on the questions she asked.
In short, she does not want to take the chance of being discovered how she might cook the story.
what she is doing makes sense if she doesnt want to get into any cat fights with aretakis in front of the media which is what would happen (come on you can see it coming). cause aretakis is a smart guy and would probbaly call her on some things she is doing in front of the media and she would have to respond to that and it would be a big fight. rawr.
and she is right. a big fight between areetakis and white that didnt include any clients wouldnt have done anything to help the investgiaton.
and come on i don't think aretakis ever had any thoughts of letting white talk to his clients anyway from the way he was talking. she probbably knew that
people what if she really actually wants to do a good job?
Huh? What fight? Aretakis already made clear in the paper (see posts above) he is fine with Whitewash not answering his questions. So, what fight are you talking about? Get real.
Aretakis wanted to have the press hear the questions Whitewash ask of his clients, that's only fair. Why can't she ask questions in public? What is the motivation of hiding her questions from the media?
You are right that Aretakis is a smart guy, he knows who pays Whitewash's bills, which hit a million dollars this weekend, divided into 250 people, that's $4000 per witness Hubbard spent.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.