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?
