Monday, February 27th, 2006...5:08 pm
Kathleen Dunbar: The Gift That Keeps On Giving
Here I thought that after her crushing, soul destroying, id hammering 61-39 defeat at the hands of Karin Uhlich, I would never have to write about Kathleen Dunbar again. Well, I wrote a few gloaty posts, but I thought she was done, finished, kaput, terminado.
No such luck.
Some of you may remember that during the last few weeks of Dunbar’s political career, she chose to sue a number of people for, uh, criticizing her. Yes, it is the sort of tactic you would expect from one of those freak wingnut politicians in Eastern Europe. The lawsuit was filed against Uhlich, Democratic Party Chairman Paul Eckerstrom, Amphitheater School District Official Todd Jaeger and a number of Democratic activists. The lawsuit was never served, which led to some head scratching and wondering if the whole thing was just a poorly executed political tactic. A couple of wags, myself included, thought that Eckerstrom or someone else should have filed a response to the suit to force some action. For the most part, the whole thing just sort of faded away, and we don’t even make jokes about it anymore.
Well, the jokes can begin again!
Dunbar’s attorney has served the lawsuit. There is an additional defendant, the Amphitheater School District. And, there is a new charge: False Light Invasion of Privacy. This is the sort of thing a private citizen can sue for, but a public official cannot. There is case law on this, Godbehere v Phoenix Newspapers, which clearly states that a public official cannot sue on those grounds.
Even without the new and improved extra frivolous charge, the suit is ridiculous. (as is the grammar and punctuation in the filings) Jaeger made his initial comments in May of 2004, so there is some question about whether Dunbar can sue over it now. Also, the comments were made during a public city council hearing, where there are legal protections for speakers. The suit against the party and its activists is even more tenuous, since the party was quoting a newspaper article that in turn quoted Jaeger’s protected speech.
Dunbar’s attorney, Stephen Gonzalez (See below), should know a bit better than this. I mean, I’m still an undergrad trying to get a BS in Physics, and this guy went to law school. (I don’t know where, I can’t find him on the State Bar Association site) Why is it that I seem to have done more research on this one than he has? I’ve asked around, and he is not a litigator, but a real estate attorney.
Well, no need to worry. We have laws on this sort of thing in Arizona. If a suit is wholly without merit, guess who has to foot the legal bills?
CORRECTION - I misspelled Gonzalez’s name in the original post. I found his entry at the bar association, and he went to the U of A law school.
NB - The Arizona Democratic Party still has their site up detailing Dunbar’s allegations and the facts behind them.
Attorney Bill Risner is handling the Democratic party’s case against Dunbar. This silliness detracts from his more important and interesting job defending Daniel Strauss and Shanti Sellz against ridiculous charges. Check out the details at nomoredeaths.org.
9 Comments
February 28th, 2006 at 12:39 am
Well if she wants to spend her money on this…
February 28th, 2006 at 8:35 am
The irony to me is that the very Republican idea of punishing frivolous lawsuits is going to be the thing to bite her in the *tushy*.
February 28th, 2006 at 8:39 am
Hey Ted, re:Daniel and Shanti, do you want a yard sign?
February 28th, 2006 at 8:58 am
He’s there, Tedski. You didn’t find him on the bar’s web site because you misspelled his name.
It’s Gonzalez with a Z
http://www.myazbar.org/Members/Memberfinder/Detail.cfm?ID=51720
February 28th, 2006 at 9:49 am
Well, Eric, I have a yard sign. Do you want a Howe Gelb CD?
February 28th, 2006 at 11:20 am
I figured that you had one Tom. I know for a fact that Ted still has his Trasoff sign in his window.
Howe Gelb? Is he the guy in that Danish band?
March 1st, 2006 at 5:12 pm
seriously though, yeah I need to buy one of those CDs.
March 4th, 2006 at 4:29 pm
I thought Dunbar left town [for good]several months ago????
Gretchen
June 30th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
No Unfortunetly, Kathleen has moved to Prescott, So we are stuck with her and her horrible vinum!! She is the most rude, abnoxious person I have ever met. Kathlene Dunbar gives republicans a bad name!!!!!!!!
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