October 9, 2003
Victory all over the place
President Bush claims that "perceptions" in Iraq have covered up the "realities" of progress in the six months since the fall of Saddam. The president has nothing on Wisconsin where State Senator Julie Lassa settled her defamation case with Todd Rongstad. Rongstad agreed to pay $65,000 to Lassa and the School Fund for contempt of Court and attorney fees--hers not his, but the day after he signed the settlement he claims he won. (I'm not making this up.) If losing $65,000 and paying attorneys for ten months for both sides is a "victory" I would hate to see one of his losses.
Then, from the hills of Colorado where former candidate and former Badger Alex Paul resides, he also joined the settlement but called on Lassa's constituents to honor the First Amendment.(I guess that includes the right to fund secret mailings.) Paul spent over half a million bucks trying to defeat Julie Lassa but got only 33% of the votes and then quickly moved to Colorado. For reasons of his own, he has remained at least 2,000 miles from the courtroom where his lawyers, inexplicably, rushed forward to announce that Mr. Paul secretly paid for the defamatory postcard. When? Three days after the primary.
Make no mistake, Paul asked to sign onto the settlement even though Lassa hadn't sued him. But now says, "OK coach, game's over but put me in." The day after signing the settlement he suggested in a rambling news release that Julie Lassa was somehow lacking in courage for entering into a settlement with him. I don't know about you but I'm confused.
So what's left of the suit? You might not believe it but Rongstad is suing Paul claiming that he is as responsible for the contempt of court and fees as he is. Can't wait for that result. Victory all around. Ah, those "perceptions" again.
Oh, yes, a confession. I have been representing Senator Lassa.
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