Bill Sizemore Wins Again!
Bill Sizemore just won his personal appeal and no longer owes the union thugs any money. (No surprise to NWR readers).
The judgement was reversed and the unions actually OWE Bill Sizemore almost $20,000 when you include interest.
We told NWR readers here last summer that Bill Sizemore was on the verge of winning his appeal. We were then vindicated in October and posted here that Sizemore did indeed win his appeal.
However some of our readers (commenters) still don't believe us here at NWR. Well, you had to dig real deep to find this story on the Oregonian. Thankfully Brad Cain from the AP reads this site otherwise we might not have had the story reported at all... hehe. But I digress.
The story says:
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Anti-tax activist Bill Sizemore won a legal victory Wednesday when a state appeals court said he is not personally liable for a $2.5 million racketeering judgment that teacher unions won against his groups in 2002.
Ok not a bad first paragraph. It basically said what I said in my "BREAKING" story yesterday. What do you think the headline online read? Try this:
Oregon court says activist not liable for $2.5 million judgment
Notice something? I did. It seems that The Oregonian headline editors just can't get themselves to say "Sizemore won." It is not physically possible for them. The phrase has been removed from their lexicon. In fact, if you look on The Oregonian front page you might notice that there is not one mention of the story of Sizemore winning his legal victory.
Is it any wonder that The Oregonion has become one of my favorite daily reads? Where else would we have learned about the dreaded disease (Multiple-Standard Syndrome) outbreak within The Oregonian building? On a side note it is also the first place I heard about the PHART.
Discuss, crow, applaud, rap.
yip yip
Posts
19 comments:
This is great news!
I just hope it sends a powerful message to the rest of the Unions...
What message would that be? That they can extort money from members, use it for partisan political purposes, fuck up somebody's life and then use more members' dough to pay the paltry $20K court costs?
Priceless!
neener neener neener
This subject resulted in one of the nastiest comment threads on my blog back when Sizemore won his previous appeal. The left came unglued at our assertion that Sizemore had been vindicated. The vitriol from the anti-Sizemore crowd was so over the top I ended up banning several obnoxious trolls.
Can't wait to see what this one brings in...
Just wondering, did you get this newsflash from the liar himself like last time? Or did you read the decision this time to see what was actually ruled? I think I will reserve judgment until I see the documents for myself.
It seems pretty straight forward to me. I think free speech is what probably decided the case, but please correct me if I'm wrong.
It has not, I repeat, has not helped the conservative cause. He as energized the left, much more than helped the right.
It's bad business to make your living off of the inititive process, and that's what Sizemore has done. I'm glad for him personally, but frankly, without him, I suspect, but can't prove, Oregon would have a Republican legislature and Governor as I write.
Unions had their purpose back in the day. You can't convince me there is any purpose to unions today other than to extort wages from their members. Unions don't provide the paychecks. They can't survive without them, though. Give me free enterprise that is truly free to compete and I will show you the end to unions and the end to this misuse of funds.
Where has the left, and the public employee leadership gotten their energy from? I would suggest that energy has come from the inititive process.
To be the majority party in this state at the present time requires Republicans to NOT be "public employee enemy #1." Rather, we need to seek out the Republicans in state government and others interested in reform and listen to their ideas and impliment ideas that are effective at getting more "bang for the buck."
Inititives are a sledge hammer approach. I hope Bill Sizemore works within a Republican agenda which will carry more Republicans into the legislature and(sigh!)four years from now a Republican governor.
Too much money and energy has been spent on the inititive process the last ten years.
2chips, your sentiment is unrealistic at this point. People who work in the government should not fear Republicans. They do now, and so consequently, vote for Democrats as if their life depended on it.
You don't want people to work against you like their life depended on it.
Government can be better managed without holding an axe over employees heads
I hope Bill Sizemore works within a Republican agenda which will carry more Republicans into the legislature and(sigh!)four years from now a Republican governor.
That will never happen because he can't make a living that way.
Anonymous of 9:07 PM, Your point is well taken. It is unrealistic to believe unions will one day just go away or be revamped to a state of usefulness by themselves. Saxton was defeated by merely mentioning reform in his campaign. They've got the numbers in this state. Reform will happen when the protection breaks down within the public employee unions. The protection lasts as long as there is money. Go BK and we have a chance! That's not the soft approach you allude to, however, I have no crystal ball telling me there is any other way. You have a different plan short of Armageddon? I'm all ears.
"I would suggest that energy has come from the inititive process."
really? without the initiative process, the now-democrat controlled legislature could raise taxes with a simple majority vote of both houses. without the initiative process, the legislature's $1 billion tax increase - that was placed on the ballot by initiative and overwhelmingly repealed by the voters - would be in effect right now - but would be a $1.5 billon tax increase.
the initiative process forces the unions to choose staying on the defensive. the unions spent millions on defeating measures that would have curbed their power (which people on this board also opposed) rather than spend those dollars on democrat campaigns. without the initiative process, the liberals might have the seats needed in the house to raise our taxes. without the initiative process, what would we do then???
without the initiative process, what would we do then?
I'd say Republican's would actually focus on winning legislative elections instead of Sizemore's,Rich, et. al. latest tilt at a windmill.
In the last two election cycles the Republican's have managed to lose both houses of the legislature and get spanked by a weak incumbent governor. National trends no doubt played a role. I'd argue all this focus on initiatives has lost Republicans enough Suburban/Exurban votes to really hurt. Kulo won both Wash. and Clack. counties for pete sake.
You are all being talked about here.
They always do talk about us. Usually with personal attacks and little actual argument to the ideas expressed.
Good catch on the editorial mention Coyote.
Notice "court says". As in "court says but the Oregonian still holds him accountable and will continue to convict him in the court of public opinion."
I have mixed feeling about the initiative process. On the one hand, initiatives provide a vital tool for the people to protect themselves against the power of government. See M37 and M39. And see the people's response to M30.
On the other hand, the initiative process has turned our state Constitution into nothing more than a phone-book sized amalgamation of statutes and regulations. Why do we have constitutional amendments on things like prison work programs? Why can't the legislature, or better, administrative agencies, take care of such mundane crap?
Constitutions are meant to lay out a framework for the function of government, enumerate powers, and protect the rights of the people. THAT'S ALL. Anything else should be done by elected and appointed officials. That's what we pay them for.
And while in the grand scheme of things I continue to have respect for Bill Sizemore for things he has done, this last election cycle with crap like car insurance and credit scores really lessened his value in my eyes.
Still, he has been fully vindicated and the union thugs can bite my shiny metal...
he has been fully vindicated
Gully, are you nuts? Did you read the court decisions at all? Sizemore was anything but vindicated. All the judge did was overturn the particular decision that made him personally liable for the judgment that was assigned to his PAC. The judgments against his organizations still stand, and the judge reemed him for his illegal activity. It is possible that future litigation could make him personally liable all over again. Sizemore is the only one saying he was vindicated and he isn't exactly the most trustworthy person.
This week's court ruling is an embarrasing slap in the face to our attorney general, who has been insisting that Bill Sizemore is personally liable. A judge shouldn't have to tell the AG how to read plain English.
The unions and their shills lose credibility every day on this.
Please explain to us all how "not personally liable" is different from "he is vindicated."
"It is possible that future litigation could make him personally liable all over again."
Obviously you have never heard of claim preclusion. Go take first year civ pro again, idiot.
"Not personally liable" means he doesn't personally have to pay for falsifying contribution and expenditure reports and money laundering because it was behavior that, while egregious and acknowledged by the Court to have occurred, was never anticipated when the laws were written so his PAC (and he) could not be held liable for it. "He is vindicated" means he didn't do anything wrong in the first place, which, if you read the Court's ruling in October, you would know is not the case (this most recent ruling simply upheld the October ruling). Big difference.
As for your genius observation about claim preclusion, go familiarize yourself with the case, idiot. Still to be decided is the question of how his nonprofit foundation will pay its $2.5 million, and other avenues also remain untapped.
Post a Comment