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NJ College Alcohol Hazing Death Charges Dismissed; Reputations Can't Be Restored As Easily

2007-09-02T11:30:00.000-04:00

An Aug. 3, 2007 indictment on aggravated hazing charges instantly branded two Rider University administrators as criminal facilitators in connection with the alcohol-poisoning death of a fraternity pledge. The news appeared across the U.S. and around the world.

The two apparently weren't present (or culpable) in the unfortunate March 2007 death of a freshman pledge from California. But they were very present in the crosshairs of Joseph L. Bocchini Jr., Mercer County, New Jersey's chief law enforcer. Then, on Oct. 28th Bocchini was forced to dismiss the charges.

In a scene right out of the film, "Casa Blanca," when Claude Raines feigns shock at the gambling going on at Rick's Cafe, Bocchini told a reporter after the dismissal hearing that he was "taken aback" at the time of indictment when he saw that two respected administrators, one of whom is the dean of students, had been charged.

Unfortunately, it apparently took three weeks for Bocchini to get over the shock and be "taken aforward," since he didn't get around to asking for the charges to be dismissed until Aug. 27th. The next day a judge agreed to dismiss the two university administrators from the case.

But dismissing charges in court can't quash the bad reputation these two will carry with them forever, thanks to the Internet, as Kevin Coughlin's article noted in today’s Newark Star-Ledger.

I believe I was the first person to comply with a federal judge’s order to remove a document from the Internet. In that case it was a properly filed and stamped sentencing memo in a high-profile matter that was given to me for posting by an Assistant U.S. Attorney. The AUSA was ordered and as soon as I heard it was removed immediately from the former njusao.org. (Wired.com wrote about it). The awesome and latent power of the World Wide Web was obvious even then.

Bocchini, in commenting about the dismissal, told a reporter that a runaway grand jury was responsible. Absent from any comment between August 3rd and 27th were any reservations about the indictment, even off the record. Instead Bocchini held press events when the indictment was returned, telling the AP in the Philadelphia Inquirer, "The ramifications of this for colleges and universities in New Jersey, and across the country, is that it will send some kind of message that the standards of college life, when it relates to alcohol, need to be policed carefully."

Last week, Bocchini owed the two administrators a much stronger retraction than telling reporters after the hearing, according to the New Jersey Law Journal, “…that he was not convinced a jury could have been persuaded beyond a reasonable doubt about the administrators' guilt.”

Instead he should have stepped up and totally exonerated the two Rider administrators from any criminal action. For comparison (the Duke charges and the Rider allegations are worlds apart) note how Attorney General Roy Cooper of North Carolina made it clear that lacrosse players Finnerty, Evans and Seligman were innocent, stating, among other things, "We believe that these cases were the tragic result of a rush to accuse and a failure to verify serious allegations." Did that happen in Mercer County, too? [On Friday, August 31st former DA Mike Nifong was found guilty of criminal contempt and sentenced to a day of imprisonment.]

Last week I wrote a tough Commentary about the Rider defendants’ plight and the tepid way in which they were absolved by Bocchini. It's scheduled to run on the OpEd page of Tuesday's Times of Trenton, the capitol city broadsheet that's been on top of this story since day one, also a Newhouse paper like the Star-Ledger.

My zeal for making sure that case milestones are strategically reported is no secret to attorneys with whom I worked at the U.S. Attorney's Office and later at the N.J. (State) Division of Criminal Justice, and for law firms who today rely on PRforLAW, LLC. The need to pinpoint downstream readers is one of the reasons I developed one of the first Web sites of its kind for prosecutors many Internet years ago.

But ruining someone's reputation should never be the goal or unintended result of a prosecutor's efforts. Will this case become a poster child for the defense bar's claims of grand jury abuse?

ABC News, Philadelphia Inquirer, KYW AM and the "Fort Dix Six"

2007-07-10T22:58:00.000-04:00

When the Philadelphia Inquirer needed legal communications perspective on the groundbreaking decision by the Hon. Robert B. Kugler to make all the evidence in the "Fort Dix Six" trial available in realtime it called me for comment.

The front-page article was headlined, "In a U.S. first, the judge wants to make evidence available on a site as soon as it's introduced."

. . ."Legal and journalism experts say nothing similar has ever been attempted in the federal judiciary, and they said these moves could be the first step in bringing the federal courts - and the reporters covering them- into the multimedia world.

"It sounds audacious and sensible at the same time," said Richard Lavinthal,a legal public relations consultant. "It's really what the Internet was meant for. It's a pure information medium, and I really tip my hat to Judge Kugler."

Lavinthal, a former spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey during the tenures of Samuel Alito and Michael Chertoff, created the first Web site for federal prosecutors in the mid-1990s."

I've linked to the story on http://www.PRforLAW.com

On Tuesday, ABC News originated its own story on Judge Kugler's plans, calling me because of my early use of the Internet at the U.S. Attorney's Public Affairs Office and development of the first breaking news Web site of its kind.

That report is also linked at http://www.PRforLAW.com

KYW AM the highest rated radio station in the Philadelphia market grabbed a couple of sound bites from me after reading the Inquirer story about the Fort Dix case.

A link to the KYW hard copy that was published is also available at http://www.PRforLAW.com

Stu Rabner Is No Gambler And The NJ Supreme Court Wins

2007-06-04T22:20:00.000-04:00

Most newspaper readers are unaware that reporters don't write their headlines. But that's no excuse for the the desk person at the Times of Trenton who wrote, "Prosecutor who dreamed of judgeship hits jackpot," for the Sunday feature Josh Margolin and Kate Coscarelli wrote about the impending nomination of Stuart Rabner as Chief Justice of the NJ Supreme Court.

The gambling implication in the headline was an affront to a professional, highly principled attorney and prosecutor who spent as distinguished a career as any lawyer in the Garden State before today's appointment by Gov. Jon Corzine.

During the decade after I started and managed the U.S. Attorney's Public Affairs Office in New Jersey, if there was one prosecutor (besides Sam Alito and Mike Chertoff) who demonstrated the temperament, quick legal mind and fairness that we want our judges to possess it was Stu Rabner.

Even in the most frenetic, breaking news moments Stu was calm, cool , collected and collegial. Starting with an international money laundering prosecution, through the sad case of the late Nicholas Bissell, in the Montclair Post Office murders, the crazy comments by Ed Rollins, and scores of other matters, Stu showed why he should be a judge.

I never knew his politics and the Sunday article with the aberrant headline made that clear. He didn't travel in political circles.

Good for him and good for New Jersey. Every state needs judges who are first rate attorneys and Supreme Court Justices should be the best of the best lawyers...not politicians.

Kudos to Governor Corzine for this appointment. I spoke briefly with him in the statehouse a week or two before his accident, mentioning that he was lucky to have Stu Rabner as his attorney general. "I know," Corzine said, adding how impressed he was with him.

Fort Dix Terrorism:The Clerk Outs Himself

2007-05-30T06:08:00.000-04:00

The New Jersey federal courts reporter for the Bergen Record / North Jersey Herald called yesterday for my reaction to the CNN appearance of the Circuit City clerk who got the "Fort Dix Six" case off the tape and into the courts.

I told the reporter: Whether it's paparazzi, editorial writers or bona fide terrorists, outing himself was a big mistake," said Lavinthal, now a legal media relations consultant. "We need people who see something that may be improper to step forward and help law enforcement -- not position themselves as today's media personality."

The full story from the Bergen Record is here.

After getting over my shock (I did not know about the CNN appearance) I've added the poorly advised clerk, whose name can be found anywhere but here, to my list of suspected leakers when the arrests were first announced.

Absolutely no good that can come from this.

However the self-outing clerk is in good company. A co-worker of one of the other suspects declined to talk to the media after the May arrests, because of the arrangement he had made with the ABC TV network's Good Morning America.

Now we wait for another shoe to drop. Will the self-outer's agent announce an appearance on American Idol? Is a terpsichorean appearance on "Dancing With The Witnesses" next?

The media has been told to send an e-mail to [address redacted] at "asg-advisors.c0m" if it wants to interview the clerk. What does this entity have to do with the story? I'll wait to see what the media will uncover about this connection. Aren't you curious to know who induced/allowed/encouraged the clerk to do the CNN interview, the FOX "exclusive," the Camden County Courier, and other media?

And then there's Circuit City. Why did they confirm the clerk's identity? Why did they make sure that the media knows that a second employee also helped make the case? Maybe they did do some original leaking.

Folks, the world has changed. Osama and every other disaffected individual in the U.S. can get access to the Internet.

If something happens to the clerk, a Circuit City store, the clerk's family or any of the other dramatis personae we'll need a scorecard to figure out the percentage of blame to assess on each.

Outing 'Fort Dix Six' clerk conveys a terrible message

2007-05-17T23:53:00.000-04:00

Could news leaks in the "Fort Dix Six," case put the kibosh on future citizen tips, and allow a terrorist cell to flourish?

Did law enforcement, in its desire to cater to the media, send the wrong message? Was leaking that the alleged "Fort Dix Six" used Circuit City in Mount Laurel to dub a VHS into a DVD, a good idea?

It may sell papers or add viewers during Sweeps Week but will citizens who should report strange occurrences or persons to authorities in the future decide to keep quiet in fear of being "outed" just like authorities did in this case?

My latest commentary appears in today's Philadelphia Inquirer editorial pages. Read it online in HTML or in text.

Call PRforLAW LLC at 215-736-0198 for permission to republish this copyrighted "OpEd of first impression."

Fort Dix Terror Blunder?

2007-05-11T06:39:00.000-04:00

Law Enforcement Blunder?

As opposite ends of political and legal spectra argue over possible entrapment implications of the Fort Dix case I note that law enforcement again, in its zeal to cater to the media, has made a serious misstep that could affect future successful prosecutions.

Why was it disclosed that a store clerk called authorities when he/she was presented with questionable video for transfer to CD? Why identify the Circuit City store in which the clerk worked? How much more time will pass before we know who that person is/persons are?

I admit not having read the Complaint (which I will do this weekend) but did this much have to come out now? What happened to the comment, "We won't disclose tactics or techniques. Much of it may come our during the trial." How many terrorists are now buying their own video hardware and software to make their own dubs?

In my media relations lectures one of the sections I present is entitled, "When Words Kill," and centers upon authorities (all of them, federal, state and local) who just can't keep secrets from the media. I lay out cases in which persons have been killed from just such leaks.

Back to Fort Dix

Why did the FBI, State Police, local authories, Congressmen, etc. have to disclose the clerk's role in launching this case? If alleged terrorists are so dumb, or so poor, or so technologically backward that they do not have access to equipment to make their own CDs why should they learn that getting outside technology help could lead to FBI scrutiny?

Most importantly, how many clerks, counterpersons, delivery people are going to step forward now to call authorities when they see something that appears awry if they know that eventually the public (and terrorists) may be able to identify or perhaps harm them?

And how many businesses, equally afraid of terror in any of its forms, and boycotts from certain groups, now will instruct their employees to keep their mouths shut if they see something hinky happening or are confronted by a customer that just doesn't seem kosher?

Circuit City should have released a one-line statement such as, "We always cooperate with authorities whenever we can."

© Copyright 2007 Richard Lavinthal. All rights reserved.

Coming soon.... a new PRforLAW Web site.

Chertoff for AG

2007-04-17T19:11:00.000-04:00

Today (I believe) I became the first "columnist" in the U.S. to advance the candidacy of the only person in the country who should take over the Department of Justice if Attorney General Alberto Gonzales bows to political pressure and resigns.

I advance solid reasons why Michael Chertoff should be the Gonzales successor and, in the spirit of full disclosure, added a tagline that Mike Chertoff was one of the U.S. Attorneys for whom I served as spokesman at the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey, adding that I've not spoken with Mr. Chertoff for years.

I created and managed the Public Affairs office for the District of New Jersey (as an apolitical civil service employee) and was spokesman for the Hon. Samuel A. Alito, Jr., the Hon. Michael Chertoff and the Hon. Faith S. Hochberg, when each was the top federal law enforcement official in the Garden State.

See http://www.examiner.com/Washington_DC-Opinion.html. If the column no longer appears on the Opinion Page try http://www.examiner.com/a-677935~Richard_Lavinthal__If_Gonzales_leaves__Chertoff_is_the_man_to_replace_him.html. If neither of the above links work, visit http://www.PRforLAW.com where the column will be posted later this week.

Today's National Law Journal Online

2006-11-14T21:16:00.000-05:00

The front page of today's National Law Journal online presents a bylined article about a Levy Phillips & Konigsberg, LLP class-action suit, quoting Jerome H. Block, Esq.

The suit, filed earlier this year, seeks to compel Philip Morris USA Inc. to provide regular low-dose CAT Scan monitoring for New York State smokers to detect early lung cancer.

On Oct. 26 The New England Journal of Medicine published a new study suggesting that low-dose scans could dramatically increase lung cancer survival. Wire services and newspapers across the country carried the story. Four days later The New York Times editorialized it.

I instinctively saw a tremendous legal media relations opportunity -- perfectly timed for a national legal audience -- and contacted The National Law Journal on behalf of my clients.

My background as a former newspaper and wire service reporter, editor, and Department of Justice spokesman made it easy to convey the potential legal news value of an article about the lawsuit. Today's article is the result of that effort: http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/index.jsp. Note: Subscription is required to view the entire article.

If you read the National Law Journal, the article will appear in the November 20th print edition.

My original PRforLAW.com news release is at http://www.PRforLAW.com/#CATscan.

Levy Phillips & Konigsberg's Web site is http://www.lpklaw.com/.

When A Bomb Drops During An Election

2006-10-31T08:10:00.000-05:00

Michael Schefer, the Philadelphia Daily News editor who always makes my columns look good, put a nice headline on my OpEd in today's newspaper.

Thanks to candidates from each party I was able to put some perspective on the "he's being investigated" charge that is such great ammunition in the political season. I also disclosed that reporters, not FBI Special Agents, are often the best investigators the authorities (local, state and federal) have.

When Is An "Investigation" Not Just An Investigation? At Election Time, When The Existence Of One Becomes Explosive Negative Mud

2006-10-29T07:51:00.000-05:00

When candidates for political office attack opponents who are "under investigation" does the mud stick and translate into votes? Does the average citizen understand what little it can mean when prosecutors "investigate" persons or entities, and why investigations should never be leaked?

My Tuesday, Oct. 31st OpEd column in the Philadelphia Daily News takes a serious look at what it means to be "investigated," how political campaigns transmogrify the existence of investigations into crimes against humanity and how lots of investigations really get started. Hint: It's not always the FBI that breaks the case.

PRSA Analysis: JonBenet Ramsey Investigation Media Relations

2006-10-28T16:58:00.000-04:00

The world's largest organization for public relations professionals, The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), has published an analysis I was asked to write regarding the legal media relations debacle surrounding the abortive investigation of John Mark Karr for the unsolved murder of JonBenet Ramsey. Published online as a "Bonus Tactics Commentary," it’s entitled, "Dissecting the media circus around John Mark Karr. Who’s to blame?"

http://www.prsa.org/viewNews.cfm?pNewsID=607.

My last PRSA article was almost 10 years ago when I headed public affairs for the U.S. Attorney’s Office. In that article I discussed the video conference arraignment of the Unabomber in New Jersey Federal Court and how I used the Internet as a pure communications medium to facilitate a case event that brought reporters from around the country to Newark.

The Public Relations Society of America, based in New York City, has more than 28,000 professional and student members in 112 chapters across the country.

HP and "Pretexting" - My Latest Philadelphia Daily News Column

2006-09-27T06:04:00.000-04:00

Holy HP Boardroom Batman!

Yesterday I took a wry look at white-collar crime, a 'la "pretexting," in a Philadelphia Daily News OpEd headlined, "The white-collar Webster's."

When identity theft, wire fraud, or hacking get rolling from the executive suite at HP they take on a much nicer ring (that was a bad pun, wasn't it?) when they're messaged/massaged into "pretexting."

I know which side my bread is buttered but I just couldn't help thinking of the street criminal without a crisis communications team.

Are you reading this well after September 26, 2006 and unable to use the newspaper link? I can e-mail it to you. I own the rights to the column so contact me if you wish to reprint or post it on your Web site.

This Karr Still Doesn't Drive Right

2006-09-23T08:57:00.000-04:00

First he got a free plane ride home from Thailand thanks to a questionable "confession" to JonBenet Ramsey's murder. Now, could John Mark Karr get a little more free stuff from the Santa Rosa, California District Attorney?
The DA's office disclosed that Karr's PC is missing. Originally seized in 2001 and allegedly containing kiddie porn images, the machine may have been inadvertently discarded during an office move, according to one media account. On Sept. 20th the county sheriff told the AP that a two-week search for the computer came up empty.
Both the sheriff and an Assistant District Attorney said the evidence had been copied and documented and the original device was not needed.
Karr has rejected a plea bargain that would have allowed him no imprisonment in return for time already served.
In California can insanity be a defense to misdemeanor child pornography possession charges?

The Karr That Drives A DA Out of Office?

2006-08-30T07:12:00.000-04:00

My annoyance with the Karr investigation continues unabated.

Yesterday the Philadelphia Inquirer asked me to write an opinion piece and I turned one around in time for today's edition.

I used my experience as a former reporter, spokesman for law enforcement and current legal public relations practice to take the DA and the media to task.

It appears at http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/15393138.htm.

Well, since the DA has ruled out Karr in the Ramsey murder perhaps he can be charged with the sinking of the Battleship Maine.

And, look for Karr's 153-page book to be published.

John Mark Karr -- Protected From Whom?

2006-08-25T07:48:00.000-04:00

I chuckled this morning when I saw Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pette refer to Karr as, "Mr." One of my key points in media relations lectures to legal and law enforcement audiences is to simply use the person's full or last name. Should an honorific be used with an alleged child rapist/killer, bank robber or even a jaywalker? No.

And when the sheriff says that Karr is being segregated for his safety it's not from other inmates that he needs to be protected.

When this sad affair plays out he'll need protection from the District Attorney and every gullible media person out there who played into this media farce. What an embarrassment. They could simply have asked California to bring him back for sentencing on the child pornography charge.

I don't think there's enough egg in Colorado to paint the faces of everyone who promoted/predicted Karr's guilt, including evey person who simpered up to a camera or microphone.

And Karr's not even charged with anything yet. Can someone tell me how many defendants in the past decade has Boulder received under custody from foreign countries for whom charges had not yet been lodged by complaint or indictment?

John Mark Karrand JonBenet Ramsey

2006-08-21T20:22:00.000-04:00

The absence of professionalism, critical thinking and investigative journalism in the U.S. is demonstrated in the bizarre and too-public sturm over suspect John Mark Karr.
Boulder, Colorado, District Attorney Mary Lacy will have to change her name back to Mary Keenan once Karr is determined to be a JonBenet channeler, instead of a murderer.
Every video I've seen has Karr stating that he was with Jon Benet when she died and her death was an accident. He never said that he killed her, probably because he didn't. Perhaps he believes he was there in spirit.
But let's turn to the more important law enforcement and legal communications facet of this farce.
If Prosecutor Lacy is investigating this mess and wanted Karr back she had absolutely no business holding a news conference. A simple statement should have been issued such as: "Our office conducts hundreds of investigations each year. Often these matters are never public and we do not confirm or deny whether we are, at any moment, investigating any individual unless and until some public charge is lodged."
Any other response was improper.
If Lacy has holdback information tieing Karr to the crime then she should be quiet. If Karr ends up being a kook that silence could save Lacy's job.
If you spend your life obsessively investigating the Jon Benet murder you might glean some information that is not public and not holdback but good enough to pique some official interest. Methinks that is what happened with Karr.
When will public officials learn that a media request is not a subpoena?
Who is the Homeland Security official in Thailand giving an interview, or the men accompanying Karr who also helped drag him into the sad Thai news conference?
When published, "Best Practice in Media Relations 2006" will not include this case.

Fourth Estate Or A State Onto Itself? The Gray Lady Targets Secret Iraq War Allies

2006-02-27T06:32:00.000-05:00

It exposed the NSA's monitoring of phone calls between Al Quaida and the USA, after sitting on the story for a year. The leak may have hobbled a valuable intelligence tactic. (Has anyone come forward yet with evidence that he/she has been damaged or victimized by the monitoring?)

The New York Times Abu Gharaib-ed the world, four-walling photos and accounts of a few rogue soldier/guards. Those reports helped spark riots, weakened our position, and made the U.S. look worse (if possible) around the world.

Today the Times unveils a new mission: destabilizing three Iraq War allies and embarrassing their governments in one fell swoop.

The article reveals secret help we received for the Iraq War from Germany, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, three countries that for many reasons took varyingly tough public stances against helping the U.S.

This must be reassuring to governments that have helped the U.S. anywhere in the world. Are they cringing, waiting for their assistance to be revealed in the New York Times, too?

The next time we ask for help and promise to keep it quiet will the ambassador or foreign minister thrown down a copy of today's New York Times story and ask, "How can we believe you?"

Who leaked this one? The CIA, an unhappy German intelligence officer?

Safe Ports In A Sturm?

2006-02-23T05:48:00.000-05:00

A little public affairs planning, media relations, and congressional liaison would have avoided, at least mitigated, the ballooning embarrassment over The United Arab Emirates ports deal.

Someone in the federal Government should have looked arms length at the proposed deal, then ordered baby steps to be taken so it would not have moved so near to closing without a public consensus.

Bean counters in Treasury and spy counters in the CIA probably viewed only the beans and the intel without PR glasses.

During the "baby steps" period a public affairs strategy should have been rolled out ... but not by the Government. The UAE should have had a top PR firm "floating" the story. (Pardon the pun). They can afford it.

No Worries For Me

On Sunday Mike Chertoff said the deal had been vetted, noting that the process was classified/secret.

Cheftoff, one of the best prosecutors in the U.S. for many years, and now Secretary of Homeland Security, vouched personally for the deal.

As U.S. Attorney in New Jersey, Mike, in his own words, insisted that everything be done "straight up."

If something smelled I believe he'd do an Archibald Cox before vouching for a business deal that would put the U.S. in jeopardy.

Legal Times Gets It Right

2006-02-21T06:35:00.000-05:00

A few hours after criticizing the "weasely" New York Times/Adam Liptak gerrymander article (previous to this post) essentially the same story arrives via the law.com newswire, but it's journalism, not stealth propaganda.

See the difference between the article in today's law.com newswire by Tony Mauro, who writes "Courtside" for Washington's Legal Times, and the Liptak attack.

Adam Liptak And The NY Times: Journalism Gerrymandering

2006-02-21T01:12:00.000-05:00

Adam Liptak and/or his New York Times editor did some interesting journalism gerrymandering on Sunday, February 19th.

Liptak's Samuel A. Alito, Jr. article stated that Justice Alito has hired, "...Adam G. Ciongoli, a former top aide to Attorney General John Ashcroft and an architect of the Bush administration's legal strategy after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, to be one of his law clerks."

Liptak calls this a "startling development" and quotes several legal experts. The sixth graph quotes a Stanford professor who calls the appointment, "...a lapse in judgment."

The message we readers infer is that the once-docile Alito has loosed the dogs of Ashcroft.

But wait! Look way down in the article, at the 10th paragraph.

My gosh, Ciongoli clerked for Alito on the Third Circuit in 1995 and 1996. They know each other. He once worked for Alito and will be working for him again.

This is a fact-critical piece of the story that should have been placed in the lead or the second graph where it belonged.

So, who at the Times decided not to let the facts stand in the way of a good story?

Quailgate: A News Katrina

2006-02-16T05:31:00.000-05:00

Quailgate through a pure public affairs/PR prism. No politics allowed.

This is a "News Katrina," the category-five news story. Any news reader/watcher could have seen it coming the moment the trigger was pulled.

Where could blame be found?

the Vice-President's office
the White House media
the national media

For whom should we feel sympathy?

Harry Whittington
Scott McClellan
the Vice-President

Who's missing here?

A vice presidential spokesman

It's not easy being a reporter working under pressure, waiting to file a story on the wire. It's not easy running a public affairs operation, serving as spokesman for major breaking national law enforcement/legal matters. Having done both I can dispassionately straddle both worlds and decide that:

Scott McClellan apparently was caught off-guard by the Cheney story. Go to the White House gaggle transcript and note how on more than one occasion he said that the Vice President's staff was handling the media on this one. I've heard what that feels like, being familiar with one poor PIO who turned on the TV news one day to see a major news conference by his agency on a case he had worked for weeks from which he had purposely been cut out.
Dick Cheney has had enough contact with reporters in his public life (even if he reviles all of them) that he knew this incident should have been announced immediately.
Where is the Vice President's spokesman? I Googled close to 1,000 links for "Cheney's spokesman" and 365 of those pages were revised/posted in the past year. This should have been handled by his people. Is he/she hiding? Is there one? Why was McClellan forced to be the front man? He should have played a supporting role.
The media may well be effete. Today it's trained not to use "a rod and reel to fish" for news but to wait in the PR/public affairs soup kitchen as news is handed out.
The media have a point in complaining about the delay but they doth complain too much.

I say in media relations training/lectures, and to my clients, that nothing is going to be any worse than the truth.

This news Katrina proves my point.

A Missed Historical Snapshot for NJ from Washington, DC

2006-02-07T05:26:00.000-05:00

It looks like one of the great snapshots in New Jersey legal history was missed by cameras, reporters and columnists last week.
The Cabinet entered the House. As we waited for President Bush to enter and deliver the State of the Union, two of the greatest minds to serve the U.S. Department of Justice -- and the people of New Jersey -- shook hands.
The Hon. Samuel A. Alito, Jr., fresh from a much-too-political confirmation, was standing with his new Supreme Court colleagues. As unassuming and personable as he is brilliant, you could see Sam surveying the room, probably reflecting in awe how a life of hard work and scholarly/legal brilliance had taken him to the Supreme Court.
Coming into camera view from across the room -- the man that Sam brought to New Jersey as first assistant and later succeeded him as U.S. Attorney. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff came to offer his congratulations.
Mike was a renowned mob-buster in the Southern District of New York who continued that tradition as U.S. Attorney in the District of New Jersey before joining the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
The Secretary of Homeland Security shakes the hand of the new Supreme Court Associate Justice. What a moment for New Jersey.
Every AUSA, paralegal and support staff person who toiled long hours when these two headed the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey can take great pleasure in this great snapshot in history.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in the District of New Jersey has a storied history of professionalism free from politics and continues to be a model for all other federal districts. Sam and Mike, and then the Hon. Faith S. Hochberg who followed Mike, carried on and enhanced that tradition.
For a decade I lead public affairs for the N.J. U.S. Attorney's Office, serving as spokesman for Sam, Mike and Faith, directing media relations for some of he biggest civil and criminal cases in the country.
I was lucky to work with them and we're all lucky to have Sam and Mike in Washington.
P.S. Corrections solicited. If you're aware of print or electronic media that mentioned this famous handshake please let me know.
R.L.

Woodward Source Redux

2005-11-17T14:14:00.000-05:00

It looks like Bob Woodward has another source-paux. My feelings over Woodward and Watergate have not changed since W. Mark Felt outed himself. I think I still may be the only person to feel that way. Now Woodward could be at loggerheads with his editor and fellow journalists since he, too was a CIA Leak subject (in the classic definition of the legal term) and instead of being a stand-up guy and writing about it failed to reveal that he, too heard about Joe Wilson's wife, perhaps before Scooter Libby. Not to beat a dead horse but Woodward says he was released from his non-disclosure agreement by his unnamed source. Too bad he didn't get the same waiver from Felt or his family. Maybe Woodward was trying to hold onto this conversation to use in another book?

Is Today Sam Alito's Day?

2005-10-31T06:03:00.000-05:00

How often has your former employer been at the top of an extremely short list for a U.S. Supreme Court seat?

If the media are right (560,000 Googled Web pages; 1,650 current news links on Google; 4,660 blogs on Technorati at 6 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 30), one of the smartest and nicest persons you could ever meet may be nominated by President Bush by the time you read this. And if Sam Alito doesn't get the nod he's still one of the smartest and nicest persons you could ever meet.

I knew Sam's late father when I was a wire service N.J. Statehouse correspondent and Sam Sr. headed the non-partisan Office of Legislative Services. His skills and acumen created a state research office that was nonpareil and set an extremely high bar for similar non-partisan government offices.

Sam Jr. is as brilliant, steel-trap-minded (John Robertsian perhaps) as he is unassuming. I've worked over the years with many attorneys who wear top-tiered schooling and backgrounds on their sleeves. Sam, whose Princeton, Yale Law, U.S. Department of Justice, Solicitor General bona fides could excuse a little swagger, has none.

When it came to crime his tenure as U.S. Attorney included personally handling the first prosecution of an international terrorist in the United States. Yu Kikumura, a member of the Japanese Red Army, had an explosive device in the back seat of his car. Thanks to a prescient N.J. State Trooper, Kikumura never made it into lower Manhattan to detonate the device outside a U.S. military recruiting office.

As U.S. Attorney, Sam had an enviable ability to absorb facts in an instant, review the case about to become public with AUSAs and turn the results into a well-run, informative, news conference. I'm sure that same razor-sharp mind shows itself during oral arguments and in his decisions.

Lastly, re: "Scalito." I believe it was a long-ago NJ Law Journal article that quoted an unnamed attorney with using the "Scalito," moniker. Now it has a life of its own on the Internet thanks to the destruction of "practical obscurity," news aggregators like Lexis-Nexis, the ease with which reporters now quote others' copy, and our collective affinity for nicknames.

Is it being used as a perjorative political word (like "liberal" or "conservative") to induce those unfamiliar with him to infer instantly that he's combative and unsuited for the Supreme Court? If Sam's nominated, the Senate and the American people will get an opportunity to see that's he's another first-rate, high-intellect, judicial heavyweight in the Roberts tradition.

(For approximately three years I was Samuel A. Alito Jr.'s spokesman, during the decade I headed the District of New Jersey's Public Affairs Office. While I haven't seen him in a decade, time hasn't changed my respect and regard for him.)

Tactical PR & The Iraq Vote

2005-10-17T07:24:00.000-04:00

Millions of voters cast ballots in Iraq, a spectacular demographic. Every voter should have received a printed note similar to the following as he/she left the polls.

This historic turnout was an unparalleled PR opportunity to advance democracy and oust indigenous/international terrorists. Were millions of one-on-one opportunities to stop terrorists in Iraq squandered?

Dear Fellow Iraqi Citizen and Voter,

You've just taken a momentous step towards bringing our country from the dark dictatorial brutal days of Saddam Hussein into the international community of democratic countries. We are proving that Iraq is a nation of diverse people who will govern themselves democratically. We will control our own destiny.

Whether the proposed Constitution passes or takes us into a new round of democratic discussion and voting, we must rid our country of the brutal thugs who are blowing up our women, children, police, and troops in a futile but bloody attempt to stop the will of the Iraqi people, delaying the rebuilding and self-government we all deserve.

Please call 555-7865, or speak with the Iraqi military office nearest your home, or e-mail noqaida@irag.gov to let us know of any terrorist, foreign or local, in our country who should be arrested, prosecuted and removed from society so we soon can be a nation living in total peace.

Signed,
Jalal Talabani
President