Last updated on 2013.04.28
Dan Lederman and Pat Powers are now playing Eliot Ness and Frank Wilson going after Al Capone for income tax evasion. And in this case, I'm happy to help.
In the latest mobilization of the GOP machine's total war against its anonymous internal RINO-hunting critics, Senator Lederman's Rushmore PAC is starting a class-action lawsuit against the as-yet unnamed individuals who have launched numerous robocalls criticizing South Dakota's GOP Legislative leaders.
I have no sympathy for thin-skinned Republicans like Russell Olson who think free speech is terrorism. But I do have respect for the law. And, as Lederman flunky Powers explains it, the anti-GOP-leadership robocalls are illegal, "because the messages from advocacy groups have targeted cell phones without the owner's express permission" violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991.
I got a couple of the robocalls on my cell phone. I'm very stingy with my cell phone number. I definitely did not say to any anti-RINO organization, "Yes, here's my cell phone number. Please call me with your criticisms of Russell Olson, David Lust, et al."
I'd love for Dan Lederman to win me some money. I'm signing on as a plaintiff to this class-action lawsuit. If you got a robocall on your cell phone, I hope you'll sign on, too.
Of course, to participate, you have to give Rushmore PAC your cell phone number. Dan, if you start calling me with Rushmore PAC propaganda, you'll be seeing another lawsuit. ;-)
Republican litigiousness at its finest. Those folks just like lawsuits. Or maybe Lederman is just drumming up business trying to get his fellow GOPpers arrested for alleged misdemeanor violations. He bails people out of jail for a living. I wonder if he's bailed out anyone who committed infamous crimes on bail?
Has the McDermott Will & Emery LLP been documented? Or is it just smoke and mirrors? Anybody can write anything they want to on a blog. I could claim to be the King of Spain, for example, and Grudznick and Larry, the Queens.
Right-wing social engineering includes circular firing squads, Bill. These bozos can credit President Obama: lawyer deployment is proof of job creation resulting from a better economy.
One more aspect that makes me dislike Gant and his job he's doing is that the SDWC is directly tied to his former staffer Pat Powers. And now it is clear the SDWC is being run by the GOP. If this indeed is the case how closely were the SD GOP and Gant from the outset.
Chris Nelson needs to come out against Gant.
Nelson, Turgenev or Jackley will never come out against Gant. ALEC owns all of them through Gant.
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/9/27/the_united_states_of_alec_bill
I am a Queen of Spain and I command the realm to eat heartier breakfasts.
Atta boy, Grudz. Now yer talkin'.
Isn't the new Noem ad flat out the finest piece of political prose perfectly set in South Dakota values?
OK--now go get back to dissing Lederman.................
What about that Zach Lautenslauger guy Kurtz? Does he resonate well with you?
all you white people look the same to me, charlie.
But Larry you know looks can be very deceiving, even ones writing can be deceiving if you can't put a face with it.
Another six or seven thousand years and we will all be brown skinned though; reverting back to what we were around 30,000 years ago when your rib was plucked to make a woman.
well, okay: good thing you don't all smell the same.
I'm not a lawyer, but if I was arguing against Lederman, and for the robo callers. I'd argue that if you signed up for anything in the past with your cell phone you are thereby giving consent to use it in a robocall. My guess is more people have, that is how most of them get these numbers, some do use auto-dialers but many just buy the data from the colleges, employers, state, or other websites where you put that number as your number or how to reach them. Therefore I would argue that they have given consent. Whether or not I would win, IDK, I really don't feel like reading the law to use actual factoids within it to support my case though so it could be completely false.
Joe, the pivotal term in the statute and your suggested line of defense is "prior express consent." I never gave my phone number to any group going by the names used in the robocalls. I have spoken on the phone with various Republicans in the state. Some of them have my phone number. If I give a Republican my number and say, "Call me, let's talk about politics," does that constitute "express consent" to receive robocalls from campaigns with which that Republican is associated? (As you ponder that, consider one lawyer's discussion of the FCC's view of prior express consent in debt collection calls.)
Lederman can contort himself into more positions than anyone I've ever met in order to get into the media.
If lying/misleading is a SD value, Charlie. I prefer to think of it as a GOP/ALEC value. I'm also not sure I would call a video prose, but as the term is usually associated with fictional writing it might not be far off.
Mr. Hoffman...a rib plucked from Mr. Kurtz is pretty funny...but are you just kidding on the 30,000 years ago comment to Larry?
You know that Republican science doesn't support the earth being that old. We all know that the universe is only 6000 years old...oh yeah and that Obama hired "15,000 new IRS Agents to scour through the American Public’s personal records proving they paid money towards a Health Insurance Policy" ;-)
It's not nice to fool Mother Hoffman, Jana.