October 14th 2018 Newsletter
Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth Back East
Our story last week about the attack on political speech by Sequoyah County HD2 candidate Tom Stites put his attorney into overdrive. Local shyster lawyer Frank Sullivan had written the original threatening letter to the billboard company and went into quite a fuss once he and Stites found out that the billboard was going right back up.
And like a stopped clock, Sullivan was right on point #1, so they slapped the name of the local GOP county committee that paid for the ad on the billboard.
Point #2, not so fast. The Democratic Party of Oklahoma has been actively assisting Tom Stites over the years including donating the use of one of their campaign buses in the 2016 election.
The state parties are funded by the national Democrats as well as by the Clinton and Obama political machines. And of course the Democrats are supporting their candidates, to claim otherwise is to lose all credibility. Public figures are very, very, difficult to defame or slander as they leave behind nearly all protections for privacy. Even being "wrong" about a statement is not actionable in court, Sullivan knows this and is just lying and threatening.
Point #3 is another bald face lie. That statute that Sullivan quoted only cover the "business" use of someone's identity or likeness, not for other uses including attacking a political opponent. Should Sullivan be silly enough to bring suit based upon these lies he will have bar charges filed against him for frivolous lawsuits and he knows that.
Same on #4, Tom Stites is running for public office, he has no privacy as he has willingly entered the fray to run for office.
Point #5 is a howler. Stites might have copyrights but fair use exceptions allow people to use copyrighted works. This court decision is one great example of how difficult it is to claim copyright infringement for a political head shot used to attack a candidate. Either Sullivan is a complete idiot and an incompetent lawyer or he is lying.
So after all of this was explained to simpleton Sullivan and not a veteran Stites, they threaten the billboard company again last week after finding out that the billboard was going right back up. The billboard company listened to their squalls and told them to deal with the sponsor of the ad.
Stites might well have more problems than admitting he is a Democrat supported by liberal Democrats. His last campaign committee wasn't shut down properly and he has an outstanding fine owed to the Ethics Commission. And there is a complete mystery on what happened to the $7300 that was left over from the 2016 campaign. His last second quarter 2018 report shows the $7300.89 remaining in the account but his new 2018 campaign account isn't showing the money being transferred into the new campaign account. Was the $7300.89 simply pocketed? Great way to avoid thousands of dollars in taxes if you don't mind going to jail!
