We don't control everything and
we'll make damned sure you're not allowed to say that we do!
For some reason, the ad on the right side of this page caused CQG PAC prez C.J. Fishman to totally freak out. "Libelous," is,
I am told, one adjective that Fishman used.
The Herald-Tribune
refused to run the ad. I think that was morally wrong.
The Venice Gondolier
ran the ad once, then pulled it. I think that was also morally wrong and, as far
as the Gondo's past behavior goes, particularly and outrageously hypocritical.
In defending his
decision, Gondo publisher Bob Vedder stated there were legal liability
issues (cough, cough), which is hogwash. Members of the Boone law firm, referenced in the ad, founded the CQG PAC.
Moreover, attorney E.G. 'Dan' Boone and his son, attorney Jeff Boone. are
indisputably public
figures.
It never stopped Vedder before,
though
There's another side to
that same coin, though. The president of the
Venice Taxpayers League, Herb Levine, is also a public figure, and the
Gondo has never thought twice about attacking him:
"Congrats to Mayor Dean Calamaras for causing an arrest of
Herb Levine, who went too far in his classless haranguing of council and
George Hunt. Those meetings deserve to be civil. Way to go, Dean."
-- Bob Vedder, Venice Gondolier Sun print
edition, 09/28/02
Levine was arrested for referring to then-city
manager George Hunt as "a liar," this right after Hunt had
angrily referred to Levine as "fallacious." The State Attorney's Office subsequently
dropped the charges, stating that Levine had not broken any laws by making
the statement. A lawsuit is still pending against the city, Calamaras, and
former police chief Joe Slapp over the incident.
Vedder even compared
Levine to Osama bin Laden once:
"Herb Levine's lawsuit was a real
disappointment. About when I had thought he was working toward building
good relations and becoming a constructive person for change, he pulls
this political stunt. It obviously didn't work any more than Osama bin
Laden's tape did."
-- Bob Vedder, Venice Gondolier Sun print edition, 11/06/04
Well, Bob: You spend a
night in jail for exercising your First Amendment rights -- we'll see how
conciliatory you feel towards your jailers afterwards.
More recently, Vedder
has asked council candidate Sue Lang to move back up north rather than
complain about our current city government.
Vedder gets twitchy, we get the boot
Vedder never wondered
about any legal problems when he wrote those statements, which makes me
wonder why all of a sudden he has become so concerned with the legalities
of not stepping on political toes.
I asked Bob Vedder
about his feelings about those very quotes in comparison with the content
of this ad. He didn't like the question. He refused to answer. Instead, he
became very angry and told me to leave his office immediately.
I wrote the ad as part
of a (very low) paid PR and ad campaign for the Concerned Taxpayers PC, which is affiliated
with the Venice Taxpayers League (in the sense that members of the PC are
also members of the Taxpayers League). I firmly believe that the ad raises a legitimate
question, one that is enhanced and justified by print media's paranoiac
protective behavior when the Boone name is mentioned.
And to Bob Vedder: I am
still waiting for an answer -- how can you justify your own documented past statements
and yet question the nature of the the Concerned Taxpayers ad? More
specifically, how can you do that without self-imploding into a black hole
of ethical paradox?
