Eliot Cutler Demands ID of Web Site Authors
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NOTE: This item's also posted for discussion on page 3 of this ongoing thread here.
Oct. 4, 2010 Contact: Daniel Billings
For Immediate Release 207-721-2288
Eliot Cutler Threatens Legal Action Against Website,
Demands Identity of the Authors of The Cutler Files
WATERVILLE - Independent candidate Eliot Cutler is threatening “imminent
legal action” against the authors of The Cutler Files, a website that examines
Cutler’s business ties to China, his role in a failed mortgage company, his
lucrative career blocking the construction of airports and numerous other issues
in his background.
A lawyer representing Cutler has written a letter to the company that registers the
site’s URL demanding the identity of the person or persons behind the website,
www.cutlerfiles.com. The company, Domains By Proxy Inc. of Scottsdale, AZ, is a
service that allows users to register domain names anonymously. The company
will not disclose the names of the registrants unless ordered to do so by a court or
other legal proceeding.
In the letter, Cutler’s attorney Peter DeTroy of Portland claims that
cutlerfiles.com “contains egregiously tortious and grossly defamatory
information, implicating imminent legal action in the State of Maine.
“We demand that Domains By Proxy, Inc. immediately disclose the name of the
transferor of the registration of the domain in issue,” the letter states, “or
otherwise disclose to our office the name and address of the….person responsible
for the content of the website.”
The attorney for Cutler Files, Daniel Billings, called Cutler’s latest move a chilling
threat to free speech and the First Amendment.
“Mr. Cutler apparently believes that people don’t have a right to criticize him or
even examine his background, and now he’s looking to exact revenge for his
failing gubernatorial campaign,” he said. “Obviously, this is what Maine people
can expect from a Cutler Administration – whenever he is criticized or his
opponents question his policies, he’ll bring in his team of lawyers to censor and
silence the dissent. He’s clearly spent too much time living in communist China.”
Billings said cutlerfiles.com is a well-researched and highly sourced series of
articles examining Culter’s lengthy background as a Washington lobbyist and
bureaucrat. It includes audio of Cutler’s own words to dispute many of his
statements. The authors, who are acting independent of a candidate or campaign
and were not compensated for their efforts, have a right to remain anonymous,
Billings said. He said Cutler’s latest legal threat shows why.
“One of the reasons they chose to be anonymous was for this very reason – they
feared that Cutler would use his considerable wealth and resources to come after
them with a frivolous lawsuit, even though they’ve done nothing but undertake a
form of citizen journalism,” Billings said. “They believe that they have performed
a vital public service by thoroughly examining the background of a candidate for
governor, more thoroughly than most of the mainstream media has done. As the
website states, they are not advocating for or against the candidate, only
providing important information.”
At a hearing last week before the state’s ethics commission, another Cutler
lawyer, Richard Spencer, claimed that cutlerfiles.com was “the work of a
professional who has likely been paid by someone a fair amount of money –
possibly tens of thousands of dollars,” according to a report by Maine Public
Radio.
“While that’s very flattering to the authors of the site who did this in their spare
time and spent almost no money on it, it amounts to an admission by Mr. Cutler
that cutlerfiles.com is an accurate, top-notch effort,” Billings said. “He can hide
behind his lawyers if he wants, but to date, Mr. Cutler has not disputed a single
item on cutlerfiles.com. He is certainly free to put up his own website or take out
ads disputing the information on cutlerfiles.com, but instead he wants to hire
lawyers to try and censor it.”
Billings said the authors stand by their articles. He noted that the Supreme Court
has determined that anonymous political speech is a protected right. “Mr. Cutler
is a public figure, and he knows, or should know, that the First Amendment was
crafted precisely to protect political free speech, exactly what cutlerfiles.com has
engaged in.”
#####
Download PDF of Norman, Hanson & Detroy, LLC Letter (PDF)
http://www.asmainegoes.com/cutlerfiles/CFrelease.pdf
I don't understand why Cutler would want to call peoples' attention to something that hitherto was virtually unnoticed. Seems self-destructive to me.
Average Joe -maybe its the fact that fighting back against the machine seems to be winning people over this year, ala Mr.LePage and his fights against an the media as he perceives it.
Mr Cutler, like many before him, desired to put himself in the limelight. As do many with vast personal resources, it seemed to him that it was just something else that he could "buy".
He created the desired personna for public comsumption, then took issue, with those who decided to publicly fill in the blanks with some of the info that Mr Cutler would rather not have seen the light of day. A typical performance by a modern day professional politician!
In the days when we had real newspapers in this state, with real investigative journalists working for them, this litlle bit of sleight of hand by Mr Cutler would not have escaped notice. But, alas, modern Maine papers have become little more than the house organ for the D Party!
What to do? Blessed invention, the internet. It allows heretofore "little people", those lacking the resources to disseminate information on a wide scale, to nowdays, place information into the public domain, on the cheap, hugely enhancing the public's right to have good timely information, and at the same time, making sure there are far fewer rocks for the politicos to hide under. In this age of the internet, and the public's willingness to do the job previously done by professional journalists, is it any wonder that they paperss are struggling to keep any kind of circulation at all?
As far as Mr Cutler goes, it is patently obvious to anyone above the age of 5, that he has not denounced ANY of the information that he would wish to keep hidden, thus adding even more truth to the disseminated information.
Secondly, he gets my vote for "idiot of this campaign" for doing everything he can to call the public's attention to something he would like to keep hidden.
Duh!
Congratulations to all the little people working hard to expose the sides of pols that those pols would rather not have see the light of day.
Perhaps one of the greatest accomplishments of the "information age" is the Tea Party itself, which never would have existed back in the days of Uncle Walter Cronkite!
Gotta love it!
WC
lawyer representing Cutler has written a letter to the company that registers the
site’s URL demanding the identity of the person or persons behind the website
Another good reason not to register domain names in this country.
Domains by Proxy gives up information even without a subpeona
http://gadgetopia.com/post/4139
"...whenever he is criticized or his opponents question his policies, he’ll bring in his team of lawyers to censor and silence the dissent. He’s clearly spent too much time living in communist China.”
Wow, Dan nice quote.
Has Cutler substantiated in any way that the information posted is wrong or untruthful?
And what the hell does this mean: "implicating imminent legal action in the State of Maine."
Does implicate have a different meaning in legal affairs than I'm use to?
I think the Democrats could be behind the Cuter files as much as the Republicans could be. I am kind of surprised though that Cutler would even pay attention to stuff on the internet and make an issue out of it. Maybe he thinks he can link it to LePage and use it as an issue.
I heard from a semi-reliable source the Dem's have convinced Cutler to have a press conference pulling out and endorsing Libby if Republicans are behind this.
Of course, the Cutler supporters deny this and I believe them, so who knows.
"they are not advocating for or against the candidate, only
providing important information"
Seriously? The homepage of the website calls Cutler "a phony and a fraud." How can this possibly be construed as NOT "advocating against a candidate"? This is an honest question. I'm not looking for a spitting contest, here. I just want to know how to reconcile what appears on the first page of the site, and what the site's anonymous owners claim about its lack of political interest. Is it because his candidacy, or the political race, isn't actually mentioned? If so, this is a pretty "phony" and "fraudulent" rationale.
I also thought Dan's responses above highlight really smart, polished political spin. Like this one: “Obviously, this is what Maine people can expect from a Cutler Administration – whenever he is criticized or his opponents question his policies, he’ll bring in his team of lawyers to censor and
silence the dissent. He’s clearly spent too much time living in communist China.”
Very clever and funny, but not truthful. There's more evidence connecting the dots between something like, say, questions posed to LePage and his temper tantrums ("obviously, this is what the people of Maine can expect from a LePage administration--when opponents question his policies, he'll throw a hissy fit and threaten to tell folks to go to hell. Clearly, he's spent too much time surrounded by subordinate employees, yes men and crabby parents shopping with their children in tow," etc.) than there is for Cutler's behavioral patterns. Can I assume this is what LePage will do, come January? Or perhaps Dan's statement is just a joke?
In any case, I hate this kind of political one-upsmanship. Or, I should say, I like it, in that it's entertaining, but it turns this stuff into a petty game. It's all very frustrating. Everyone in this race is full of crap.
The homepage of the website calls Cutler "a phony and a fraud." How can this possibly be construed as NOT "advocating against a candidate"?
Up until this year that has never disqualified anyone from attaining and holding an office.
Cutler is a thin-skinned crybaby!
Remember last winter, when he was being
"tracked" by a young girl with a FLIP camera?
Big Strong Eliot wigged out like a total nutcase. I thought
he was going to pick a fist-fight with a 95-pound girl.
.
.
.
.
.
Get out, loser!
You're spending millions of your own money and getting NOTHING.
How can we possibly trust you with OUR tax money??
And they try to say LePage is a loose cannon?
Maybe when he loses he can check to see if the WON has any openings for a person of his substance.
Editorial in today's PPH: http://www.pressherald.com/opinion/cutler-files-should-be-subject-to-cam...
I particularly like the veiled reference to the 1st Amendment in the third paragraph, "...The authors, who don't identify themselves, claim that what they are doing is anonymous free speech, a cherished tradition in this country since before the founding of the republic."
The editorial goes on to summarily dismiss this as nothing of importance.
I wonder if they'd consider printing a refutation of their position from Dan Billings?
charlie
Even if Cutler withdrew right now and endorsed Liberal Libby, his name would remain on the ballot in November. There will be plenty of people casting votes for him, since they won't know he's withdrawn. Heck, some of them may vote for him BECAUSE he's withdrawn. Every one of those votes will do nothing but help Paul LePage.
Bring forward the news conferences, with lashings of horse-dorvies and shots of Moxie mixed with Allen's.
lol
I see comments speclating that the republicans are behind Cutler filesbecause of Dan representing them. If true that would be dumb. Generally you have to ask who would benefit?. I think Libby benefits if Cutler loses support. I think Lepage benefits by a dividing of votes between Moody-Cutler and Mitchell. At this point I am thinking Cutler will come in 4th behind Shawn Moody.
The difference between Lepage and his dealings with the press and
Cutler and his dealings with this web site are
Lepage is dealing with the Main Stream media and the public doesn't trust the main stream media and
Cutler is dealing with regular people here excersizing their first amendment rights
So Lepage is fighting the big machine and cutler is trying to silence the public.
big difference here.
I still think Cutler is behind this site, but if he isn't I suspect its the DEMS. LePage doesn't benefit from a weak Cutler, Mitchell does.
And IMHO, a DEM/Culter would seek out Mr Billings to represent the Cutler files to suggest that the GOP was behind it.
Peter - no offense, but you don't think Dan is that silly, do you? I don't see Dan taking this case unless he knew EXACTLY for whom he was fighting. The word "patsy" was off getting a soda pop when Mr. Billings was born.
Don't be fooled - this issue is about First Amendment rights, and nothing else. By fighting the site, Cutler has effectively cut his own political throat. If he'd simply ignored it, the whole thing would have been a non-issue. By filing a court case and rattling the 1st Amendment cages, he's given the site undreamed-of publicity.
That's not someone whose mental capacity meets MY standard for governor of Maine.
12:26 PM
Maine ethics panel to investigate 'Cutlerfiles' website
The Associated Press
AUGUSTA — Maine's campaign oversight board plans to take up a complaint about a website targeting Eliot Cutler, an independent candidate for governor, within the next two weeks.
The website, Cutlerfiles.com, labels Cutler "a phony and a fraud" and is highly critical of his political, business and personal background.
Ethics in politics? Surely you jest! All's fair in love and war; and in politics too.
charlie
Did you see all of the comments on the story? They are already trying to blame LePage. This is just another elaborate attack on LePage set up by the Democrat party.
Cenci had a similar beef here not long ago. I like Mark, but I STILL thought the interplay was funny.
Well, the difference was Cutler is a public figure, Cenci was not. But Naran outed the guy that thought he was so smart, and he's been quiet ever since.
he's been quiet ever since.
No he hasn't. And the Cutler Files bears a striking resemblance to Asmainegoeslolz. Remarkably similar writing styles- it almost seems as though someone gave that guy a bankroll and told him to class it up a bit. The money is well spent, I'd say.
Mark Cenci was a political candidate and head of the Maine Libertarian Party. That's why he used to get irritable. He had too much on his plate to sleep.
Is that why Libertarians are such cranks? I always assumed it was because they didn't get any action.
Cutler's lawyer is no chump and if he actually files suit for defamation (a big IF), it will not be frivolous because Peter DeTroy is not going to trade on his own professional credibility and violate the Rules of Court just for political points. The standard for proving a case of defamation against a public official (someone running for office) is indeed very high, but calling someone a "fraud" is a serious and potentially defamatory statement. This is not about campaign finance-that was Dick Spencer's piece of the legal action.
Of course, this letter could be the last and only action by DeTroy for Cutler. The idea that Dan is defending the Dems in some sort of misdirection play is just stupid. I have long thought that Dan's anti-Cutler venom is more than mere politics, maybe he has more skin in this than just a hired lawyer for the web creators. Maybe he advised them that their statements were not false and defamatory? The long press release with pithy quotes from Dan speaks more to being political than as an example of zealous representation by an advocate within an adjudicatory proceeding (Ethics Commission Process). Rarely do clients benefit when their lawyers are so verbose in the media.
The First Amendment is indeed, and should be, a high barrier for Cutler to overcome. However, the First Amendment is not a total get out of jail free pass if you cannot prove the truth of all your statments. The falsity might be over something very trivial, a fact that we have not collectively paid much attention to, yet is still false and actionable.
I don't believe calling a candidate for public office "a fraud" is actionable. It is protected opinion, IMO.
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Eliot Cutler is an elitist of the first order and embodies most of what I don't like about lawyers.
Dan Billings is a regular guy and embodies most of what I like about lawyers. Nice work, Dan.