I also wonder if this is why Newsday jumped on the story at first...becaus SOMEONE was thinking they could tie Bush into this...only whoever wrote the talking points was TOO STUPID to realize this was not the judge from Floroida! HA!
You should take a look at Catherine Crier's show from last Friday; she was interviewing Scott Ritter about his arrest in New York.
However, she was MUCH more interested in how the information was "leaked," as she said on her show, than she was in the fact that Ritter's arrest has caused many, many questions about how it was handled. Nor was she interested in the facts of Ritter's actual arrest.
She went on to say
(paraphrasing from a transcript someone made from a tape of the show)
"I understand the Judge in this case, who sealed the file, actually worked for the President and has been working for Republicans for a very, very long time. Any sense somebody working at the courthouse actually passed this along to the press"?
and
"This judge sealed records. We don't know how they got to the press and I was just curious to read a bunch of information about he actually was hired to aid now President Bush, he went down to Florida and sort of protested during the 2000 elections. That was very, very activist..which actually the Judicial Ethics Committee has frowned upon and looked at some of this. AND I just certainly hope that a sitting town Judge isn't violating someone's rights by passing off sealed records to the media".
Unfortunately for Ms. Crier, the judge in this case is named Peter G. Crummey. He was NOT involved in the 2002 Florida recount, even though he IS a Republican.
Here is what a cursory search on the internet would have found:
According to Google's cache, the Schenectady Daily Gazette reported:
"The Commission on Judicial Conduct is facing what could become a significant court test about the way it operates.
"State Supreme Court Justice Thomas Spargo of Albany County is challenging the charges brought against him by the commission for engaging in allegedly impermissible election activities. Among other things, Spargo is accused of participating in a "loud and obstructive" demonstration in Florida in favor of George W. Bush's election during that state's vote recount in the 2000 presidential balloting.
"Spargo, a Republican activist and election law expert, contends he was within his constitutional free speech rights in all instances. Federal court Judge David Hurd in Utica is weighing a decision."
If you have a chance to review that show, you will see that Ms. Crier took GREAT delight in "dishing this dirt," which, in fact, turned out to be TOTALLY false. She insinuated that George Bush and his friends just may have "outted" Scott Ritter to shut him up.
It was one of the most disgusting things I have EVER seen on TV.
XXXXXX
Raleigh, NC.