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Kelly lawyers up

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Even if Mell does retract his comments, I doubt that will head off the attorney general’s investigation. Once those people start snooping around, they never stop.

The family feud between Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his father-in-law, Chicago Ald. Richard Mell (33rd) took a dramatic new twist late Friday when the governor’s chief fund-raiser threatened to sue Mr. Mell for defamation.

In a telephone press conference, Robert Clifford, attorney for gubernatorial friend and fundraiser Christopher Kelly, demanded that Mr. Mell withdraw statements that Mr. Kelly had traded appointments to state boards and commissions for large campaign donations.

If he doesn’t come forward with the truth before next week is up,” said Mr. Kelly, “then litigation for defamation will be inevitable.” […]

“Mr. Mell has had the whole week to set the record straight, and hasn’t done so,” Mr. Kelly continued. “If he fails to do so, I will pursue him in a court of law.”

Mr. Clifford said he and an attorney for Mr. Mell have been talking since early in the week, but have not yet reached agreement on a written “retraction.”

The statement must be public, complete, and not limited by implications that Mr. Mell merely was misquoted or misinterpreted by reporters, Mr. Clifford said.

Bob Clifford is an excellent attorney. I’d be scared witless if he was coming after me like this.

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Jan 14, 05 @ 4:31 pm

Comments

Kelly isn’t messing around. Bringing in the big dog, Clifford. Wow….I guess you can say…”Now this is getting interesting”

Comment by Chris Rhodes Friday, Jan 14, 05 @ 4:53 pm
Kelly really ought to re think this suit. He’s a public figure; he’s filed a statement of economic interest, and he’s a designated representative of the governor. The standards of defamation are much tougher for guys in his shoes. If he follows through with the suit and can’t prove that Mell acted with reckless disregard for the truth, he won’t come out looking any better.

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Jan 14, 05 @ 5:04 pm
The investigation stuff is interesting, but so far the most important point to come out of this mess is that for all his bluster and bluff, the governor is not a reformer. He falls in the new group of politicians who will say what they think the public wishes to hear, but don’t really have an honest philosophical particle in their being. This guy is a phony reformer and a unabashed self-promoter, and now we have some one who knows him well, his father-in-law, disclosing that important point.

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Jan 14, 05 @ 5:17 pm
This type of case really isn’t Clifford’s typical case… he’s more of a P.I. guy — he was cleary brought in to scare the hell out of Mell.

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Jan 14, 05 @ 6:49 pm
Bring on the litigation. All the good stuff comes out during discovery. Chris Kelly is not going to open himself up like this, with Mell’s lawyers going after him to find out that what Mell said wasn’t so far off base after all…

Comment by Phocion Friday, Jan 14, 05 @ 6:59 pm
Well, well. Someone has their nose out of joint. Everybody now… Awwwwww poor Chissy. Its no secret that there are persons employed at the state who are there only because of who they know and what that person gave Rod. Hell, I worked for one of those people, and it wasn’t a big secret. In my experience its the people who scream the loudest who have the most to hide.

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Jan 14, 05 @ 7:18 pm
Blagojevich, who has $10.2 million in his campaign fund, has named numerous donors to key posts, including two former members of the state’s scandal-plagued Health Facilities Planning Board, who each gave $25,000 about two weeks before being appointed. Sounds to me like there is no case against the Honorable Mell.

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Jan 14, 05 @ 7:48 pm
This post has been removed by a blog administrator.

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Jan 14, 05 @ 7:49 pm
Kelly better be careful. They think Mell will be quite. Why do you think they waited until Mell said publically he would not say anything more. Ball-less wonders. If they push Mell, he will jump again. Kelly spends more time in Vegas than Illinois and everyone knows Kelly can get anyone he wants appointed. I for one know several people who will start talking to reports so they can start digging on Rod/Kelly. The democrats are upset with Rod because to your face he will tell you he will hire who ever you want, but once the tv cameras start, he starts talking sh#t like a reformer. We democrats who talk to him privately know its all show, its all b.s. And Mell will drop more than a dime on him. I have never seen a politican have a public fight with a family member like this. Can anyone think of one? Speaks volumes to the true character of Rod don’t you think? Watch out Rod, you will not win this fight. Mell’s not going down for you. MOre than one person will start talking. You instill no loyality. How much you want to bet your former chief legal advisor is already talking? Why did she leave Rod?

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Jan 14, 05 @ 8:43 pm
I for one would like to see the Governor, Chris Kelly, Lon Monk and a few other deposed in the courts. Lets ask Kelly a few question about O’Hare contracts. This could really be the undoing of the Governor. These guys are cowards who are playing a game using the media. Rod will at the last minute show he is bluffing by saying “for the good of my family I am not going to address this issue any more” he should have been a man when Mell said that he wanted this all to stop but Rod had to have the last word. Phony Rod and Kelly will never bring this to court. I see Bob Clifford gave Hot Rod a few bucks

Clifford Law Offices PC
120 N. LaSalle
Individual Contribution
$50,000.00 on 6/23/2004 to
Friends of Blagojevich

Clifford Law Offices PC
Individual Contribution
$50,000.00 on 7/23/2003 to
Friends of Blagojevich
Clifford Law Offices PC

Individual Contribution
$100,000.00 on 4/16/2002 to
Friends of Blagojevich
Clifford Law Offices PC
120 N. LaSalle

Individual Contribution
$50,000.00 on 5/15/2001 to
Friends of Blagojevich
Clifford Law Offices PC

$60,000.00 on 6/21/2000 to
Friends of Blagojevich
Bob Clifford is an ambulance chasing Ba$tard, its guys like Him who corrupt the system, no wonder he is representing Rod & Company

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Jan 14, 05 @ 10:48 pm
Interesting how much pent up venom exists against Blago/Kelly. I think anon poster above meant to say when Hartman was at Aviation and Martin was at Board of Ed. Good tidbits here, but when does the full meal get served?

Comment by Phocion Saturday, Jan 15, 05 @ 5:52 am
This is what Mell’s attorney said this monring in the Suntimes. I am not as good as you all at adding links so I just cut and paste. Sit back, get a bucket of popcorn and enjoy the show. Illinois politics is great fun. Rod’s refomer image will be crushed if people start talking the way I hear they might. I can’t wait.

“If they choose to litigate the matter, it will be vigorously defended,” Levy told the Sun-Times. “I’m not going to lay out my defense strategy. Just say it will be vigorously defended for a variety of reasons we feel to be good and sufficient.”

Comment by Anonymous Saturday, Jan 15, 05 @ 7:45 am
This isn’t a smart move for Rod politically. There’s no quicker way to cement someone’s disdain than a threat of a lawsuit. Mell already said he’s moving on, and he hasn’t made any further public comments. So why bully him now? No one is going to believe a retraction at this point, and I highly doubt that someone as stubborn as Mell would offer a retraction. So, the choice now is for Kelly to pursue this lawsuit, which will bring out all sorts of embarassing disclosures in discovery and will almost assuredly last through the election; or drop the threat to sue, which makes it seem like Kelly couldn’t win such a lawsuit.

On a different thread, I suggested that Blagojevich simply return the contributions in questions and publicly announce that he doesn’t even want the hint of a suggestion that his appointments were sold. Of course, I’m pretty certain that Blagojevich wouldn’t do such a thing — even though it’s a bold move that would change the dynamics of this scandal. It’s not a bad idea for Blagojevich’s potential rivals (that’s like half the politicians in this state these days, right?) to start putting pressure on him to return the contributions. It would reinforce the suggestion that Blagojevich is more interested in keeping campaign cash than in really cleaning up government.

Comment by Anonymous Saturday, Jan 15, 05 @ 10:56 am