Defend Progressive Champion Jim McDermott

[Omaha Steve]

As part of our continuing work to confront Congressional corruption, we're reaching out today to support a progressive champion -- Rep. Jim McDermott -- who House Majority Leader, John Boehner, has attacked as a payback for successfully exposing and punishing Republican corruption. Please help counter Boehner's attack, and continue to fuel the fight against corruption in Congress by contributing today to the Legal Expense Trust of progressive champion, Rep. Jim McDermott.

Please contribute today to help defend progressive champion, Rep. Jim McDermott.

Rep. McDermott came under attack from Boehner for successfully confronting Republican corruption that was spearheaded in the nineties by Newt Gingrich, Boehner, and other Republican leaders. Here's some background on what prompted Boehner's attack....

In 1997, the House Ethics Committee recommended that then Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, face an unprecedented reprimand from Congress and pay $300,000 for what they deemed an "intentional or...reckless" disregard of House rules. They concluded that Gingrich had used tax-deductible money for political purposes and supplied inaccurate information to officials investigating the issue. Conceding to the Ethics Committee, Gingrich agreed not to make any public comment on the matter, or direct surrogates to mischaracterize it before the House voted on a punishment. 1

Soon after this agreement was made, however, Rep. Boehner participated in a conference call with Gingrich and other Republican leaders and planned a direct violation of the agreement. A Florida couple intercepted Boehner's cell phone signal and recorded the conversation. They brought the tape to the Democratic co-chair of the Ethics Committee -- Rep. Jim McDermott -- who played it for a New York Times reporter and set into motion events that led to Gingrich's resignation. For that act, Jim is still paying today.

Majority Leader Boehner was recruited to sue Rep. McDermott in civil court for invading his "privacy". Boehner's suit against McDermott went up and down the court system. Unfortunately, two of three judges of the Washington D.C. Appeals Court recently ruled against McDermott. If not reversed, he must pay fines, penalties, and Boehner's legal costs.

If not reversed, this judgment will set an ominous precedent that will impede the flow of information on Congressional corruption to the press. Throughout this long ordeal, Rep. McDermott has been fighting to protect first amendment rights. On April 8th, a Washington Post editorial concluded: "This ruling can't be right; the full court ought to intervene."2

Congressman McDermott had no choice but to appeal this decision, and he has. It will be costly. Please contribute today to help defend progressive champion, Rep. Jim McDermott, and support his historic fight against Republican corruption.

Republicans under investigation have Legal Expense Funds into which money pours from Republican supporters. In fact, over the years, Boehner has raised thousands to pursue this case against McDermott.

81% of the voters in Rep. McDermott's district sent him back to the House in the 2004 election. Rep. McDermott needs to focus on fighting for health care, getting our troops out of Iraq, and continuing to tell the truth to people who don't want to hear it -- not raising money to appeal this case.

Jim McDermott should not have to do this alone.

Please help defend this progressive champion. Please contribute today to Rep. McDermott's Legal Defense Fund, and help spread the word by passing this email along to your friends.

Thank you again.

Sincerely,

Roger Hickey, Co-Director
Campaign for America's Future


Robert L. Borosage, Co-Director
Campaign for America's Future


1 "Ethics Panel Supports Reprimand of Gingrich", John E. Yang and Helen Dewar, Washington Post, January 18 1997
2 "Ban Snooping, Not Speech", Washington Post, April 8, 2006


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And this info:

Controversies

In December of 2004, Rep. McDermott came under investigation by the House ethics committee when they had to determine whether he violated standards of conduct for leaking an illegally recorded telephone conversations during a committee investigation in 1997. At that time the committee was investing the conduct of then-Speaker Newt Gingrich

The illegal telephone converstation was recorded by a Florida couple, John and Alice Martin, who overheard a conversation between Rep. Gingrich and top Republicans, on their police scanner inside their car. After listening to the conversation for several minutes they decided to record it, at first for posterity sake and after listening further decided that it might be important for the ethics committee to hear.

It was at that time that they delivered the tape to Rep. McDermott, the senior Democrat on the House ethics committee at that time, and who was in town for a swearing-in ceremony.

Shortly afterwards the tape was leaked to several media outlets. Rep. John Boehner, who was part of the Gingrich conversation, sued McDermott over leaking the tape and U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan concluded that McDermott was behind the leak and ordered him to pay Boehner for "willfull and knowing misconduct" that "rises to the level of malice".

McDermott challenged that ruling in a federal appeals court. But on March 29, 2006 the court ruled 2-1 that McDermott violated federal law when he turned over the illegally recorded tape to the New York Times and other media outlets. The court then ordered McDermott to pay for Boehner's legal costs ($700,000) as well as $60K in damages.<1><2> <3>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_McDermott

[leftstreet]

1. k&r