Monday, October 17, 2005

Hillary problems: Lawsuits and a strip club

Tip from Cal Skinner:

From the New York Sun:

A lawyer for Senator Clinton urged a California state appeals court Friday to give the senator a second chance to end her involvement in a politically nettlesome lawsuit stemming from a star-studded and star-crossed fund-raising gala for her 2000 Senate bid.

During the hour-long hearing, Mrs. Clinton's attorney, David Kendall, asked a three-judge panel to order a lower court to reconsider its denial of the senator's motion to dismiss the case under a California law that allows certain suits involving political campaigns or matters of public controversy to be terminated at an early stage.

"We respectfully submit that the court was in error here," Mr. Kendall said.
The lawsuit was originally filed in 2001 by an Internet entrepreneur, Peter Paul, who alleged that President Clinton reneged on a deal to work for Paul's companies, Stan Lee Media and Mondo English, after leaving office. Paul claimed that as part of the deal, he agreed to provide Mr. Clinton with $10 million in stock, $5 million in cash, and a $1 million donation to the president's foundation, and to pay more than $500,000 to underwrite the costs of a fund-raising concert for Mrs. Clinton that was held in August 2000.

Due to an apparent breakdown in vetting procedures, the Clintons and their aides were unaware that, in the 1970s and 1980s, Paul was convicted of three federal felonies, including drug and fraud charges. Those facts emerged in the press a few days after the gala, causing embarrassment to Mrs. Clinton's campaign.

And there is this, my favorite part...

The New York Sun was the only news organization that attended the arguments Friday, but about a dozen law students from an appellate advocacy class at the University of California at Los Angeles made a special visit to see the Clinton case. Some said they enjoyed the spectacle of Mr. Kendall, a prominent Washington attorney who has handled such weighty matters as Mr. Clinton's impeachment, arguing over filing deadlines and mailing mishaps.

There is a Chicago links in this story..... Mr. Levin was also once part owner of a strip club, Thee Doll House. Feminists such as Hillary generally are opposed to such exploitative enterprises.

Levin also used to run the politically connected firm Tru-Link.

Peter Paul was the go-between, according to this article, between the Hillary camp and former strip club owner Levin.


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