Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

["Shea Tisdale" <shea AT sheatisdale.com>]

Very nice work Tom.

I guess my opinion would be this.  The pentagon was still incorrect to
release any information about her.  They should simply say no comment.  

Did she deserve to win her suit.  Maybe, but not to the tune of 600k.
More on the order of a token award of lawyer's fees and court costs.  

And since she lied to get a security clearance, she should be prosecuted
for that.

But then again maybe I should question the veracity of this story.  I
mean, a "huge network of right-wing lawyers" I can totally buy into.
But a "huge network of right-wing lawyers and press outlets" is a bit of
a stretch...  I mean I didn't know there was a right wing press except
for Fox News.
;-)



> -----Original Message-----
> From: internetworkers-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:internetworkers-
> bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Beckett
> Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2003 3:21 PM
> To: Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/
> Subject: Re: [internetworkers] Civil rights victory - was Linda Tripp
gets
> paid
> 
> Shea Tisdale wrote:
> > $600,000 seems a bit excessive, but I hope that I get that much if
they
> > release secret information about my involvement in running the
> > world...oops...ignore that!
> >
> > What ever did happen to her?  I think one of the strange legal
> > requirements on that charge for her was that she had to be aware
that it
> > was illegal or something...only time I've ever heard that, but
that's
> > what my brain is remembering.
> 
> Wait, there's more!
> 
>       "When her name surfaced in the news in connection with the
Lewinsky
> affair, reporter Jane Mayer was assigned a profile of her by the New
> Yorker. I interviewed Mayer about her reporting and learned that
during
> the course of her investigation, she tracked down numerous friends and
> family members of Tripp, without any help, she assures me, from the
> White House or anyone else in the government.
> 
>         "Mayer found Tripp s step-mother, who blurted out that Tripp
had
> such a foul disposition, she'd even gotten into a brawl and been
> arrested. The step-mother, who has confirmed that she was the source
of
> this information, and gave Mayer sufficient detail to allow her to
file
> an FOIA request, and to track down Tripp's arrest record from the
local
> police station where she was busted.
> 
>         "Armed with a facsimile of her arrest, Mayer then called the
> Pentagon, to see whether the Defense Department had any record of her
> arrest, and to see whether she had properly disclosed it, as is
required
> under the law. The press office at the Pentagon checked her record,
and
> reported back to me that Tripp had no arrest record, as far as they
knew.
> 
>         "This was the ostensible infringement of Tripp's privacy. The
> government did not disclose her arrest record. The government
attempted
> to suggest she had no arrest record. It was her step-mother who blew
the
> whistle on her, not the government. And it was old-fashioned, factual
> reporting that disclosed that Tripp lied to get a top security
clearance.
> 
>         "But with the help of a huge network of right-wing lawyers and
> press outlets, Tripp turned her potentially felonious lie, and her
> felony arrest history into a cause celebre, shifting all blame for her
> own miserable conduct onto the Pentagon, and claiming falsely yet
again,
> that somehow the government had released her arrest record and tarred
> her name. She tarred her own name. The government (incorrectly) denied
> she had an arrest record. Mayer wrote the story, straight.
> 
>         "The CNN story in question makes a zillion mistakes, every one
> of them in Tripp's favor. It says she was a minor, when arrested. She
> was an adult. It says the government leaked information about her
> arrest. It did not. It says the case involved drinking - it was a
grand
> larceny charge, which as George W. Bush, could tell you, is much more
> serious. They say she was never charged. She was charged in an open
> court with Grand Larceny, and then, in a plea agreement, she pled
guilty
> to a reduced charge of loitering. The case was adjudicated, not
dropped.
> 
>         "And no one until this day has ever prosecuted her or
> disciplined her for lying and covering up her arrest, in order to get
an
> undeserved top security clearance. Instead, the government is paying
her
> $600,000 despite the fact that she clearly lied about her status.
> 
>       "The media has done a completely miserable job at holding its
own
> against her spin-meisters. The press seems to have been incapable of
> getting the facts of her case right - over and over she's portrayed
> herself as a juvenile, and claimed she was never charged, when all you
> have to do is go to look here to see her arrest record, and her mug
> shot. And another Tripp link is here at The Smoking Gun."
> 
> http://www.msnbc.com/news/752664.asp?cp1=1#031104
> ----
> 
> The article links to the Drudge Report but the promised mug shot is
not
> there.  The Smoking Gun has this arrest report:
> 
> http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/tripp1.html
> 
> TaB
> 
> 
> 
> ---
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