Yesterday, Judge Thomas Hogan ordered Rep. Jim McDermott to pay Rep. John Boehner the damages stemming from a 1998 lawsuit. Here's the gist of Judge Hogan's ruling:
A federal judge in Washington has ordered Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott to pay more than $1 million in attorney’s fees awarded to Minority Leader John A. Boehner as part of a protracted lawsuit involving an illegally taped cell phone call.There's alot of history behind this ruling. Here's a nice summarization of that history:U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Hogan ruled that McDermott, D-Wash., must pay $1,053,181, plus $520,761 in interest to Boehner, R-Ohio.
Boehner sued McDermott in 1998, accusing him of leaking the contents of a conference call that a Florida couple had illegally taped from Boehner’s cell phone in 1996.What's hillarious is McDermott's statement after being notified of the ruling:In the call, Republican leaders, including then-Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia (1979-99), discussed responding to ethics allegations against Gingrich, who served as Speaker from 1995 to 1999.
McDermott at the time was the ranking Democrat on the House ethics panel.
The attorney’s fee payment comes on top of $60,000 in damages that McDermott already has paid Boehner out of his legal expense fund.
In December, McDermott paid Boehner $50,000 in court-ordered punitive damages, $10,000 in statutory damages and another $4,169 in interest, according to public disclosure filings. The payment was made shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review a federal appeals court ruling in Boehner’s favor.
“While the amount of damages assessed in this case is significant, I submit that defending the First Amendment is beyond measure and worth every penny,” McDermott said in a statement, adding, “With the end of this case, another threat against the First Amendment has been met and turned back.”"Another threat against the First Amendment has been...turned back"? That's so far out there that I'm speechless. This guy is an idiot if he thinks that this had anything to do with the First Amendment. In fact, the irony from this ruling couldn't be better timed.
Rep. McDermott just got hammered for $1.5 million for accepting a tape of a conversation that was done without a warrant. In fact, it wasn't done by a law enforcement agency. It was intercepted by a retired Florida couple. This ruling happened at a time when Democrats are accusing President Bush of wiretapping Americans without a warrant. That irony wasn't lost in this IBD editorial:
Compare that with Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., ordered on Monday by a federal court to pay nearly $1.2 million to House Minority Leader John Boehner, after breaking federal wiretapping laws.This isn't unprecedented. Democrats have long accused Republicans of voter suppression. The only trouble with that is that Democrats are the ones that've gotten convicted of voter fraud. Democrats are the ones who've vandalized GOTV vehicles in Milwaukee. Democrats are the ones who marched into GOP victory offices in Florida to intimidate GOP volunteers.McDermott had disclosed to reporters a secret tape of a 1996 cell phone conversation between Boehner and other GOP leaders about a House ethics committee reprimand of then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich. In late 2006, that same ethics panel found McDermott's actions "not consistent with the spirit of the Committee's rules", but didn't discipline him. McDermott remains in Congress today.
Considering the McDermott case, not to mention disgraced ex-New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer using state police to gumshoe the State Senate GOP leader, it's not President Bush abusing power to hurt political adversaries; it's Democrats.
The reality is that Democrats are close to being the thugs that they accuse Republicans of being.
Here's Steve Beren's statement on McDermott's disgrace:
“Today is April Fools Day, and it is time for Jim McDermott to stop fooling around. It is time for a new exit strategy, one that removes McDermott from office. Jim McDermott should cut a check, pay the fine, and resign now! The time has come for McDermott to go. When you look at the record of this case, you have to conclude that McDermott has placed himself above the law. A member of congress ought to be a citizen representative, with the highest ethics and deepest patriotism. McDermott's unethical behavior, unworthy of any citizen, is absolutely unworthy of a member of congress. His flagrant disregard of his legal and ethical responsibilities disqualify him from office. Of course, this is the same McDermott who opposes our troops and opposes a victory strategy in the war against Islamic terrorism. So when McDermott puts himself above the law, it's hardly surprising.”I wholeheartedly agree, Steve. It's long past time to dump Jim McDermott.
