Saturday, August 9, 2008

Byron York writes from The Corner

>>The New York Times reports today that Tom Matzzie, a former MoveOn official and well-known left-wing operative, is leading a new group, Accountable America, that is sending threatening letters to big Republican political donors, warning them against making any more contributions. "The warning letter is intended as a first step," the Times reports,

alerting donors who might be considering giving to right-wing groups to a variety of potential dangers, including legal trouble, public exposure and watchdog groups digging through their lives.

The Times says nearly 10,000 Republican donors will receive the letter this week: "The letter is an opening shot across the bow from an unusual new outside political group on the left that is poised to engage in hardball tactics to prevent similar groups on the right from getting off the ground this fall…. 'We want to stop the Swift Boating before it gets off the ground,' said Mr. Matzzie, who described his effort as 'going for the jugular.'"

Here is the Times article
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/us/politics/08donate.html?_r=2&sq=%20&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

I'd like to get a lawyer's opinion on this. Has Matzzie opening himself up to a lawsuit. His "warning" letter could be construed as a "threatening" letter. Here's the skinny on Matzzie, he's an associate of David Brock.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tom_Matzzie




2 comments:

Mark said...

I'm sure that their bottom feeders vetted the text of the extortion-gram very carefully.

Had any rightwing related group done such a thing the caterwauling of the left would have drowned out the all else.

Creeps.

Charles said...

Judicial Watch points out, the Accountable America letters are also quite possibly violations of the civil liberties of those receiving them: “A key federal civil rights law (42 U.S.C. § 1985(3)), popularly known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, may be applicable if ‘two or more persons conspire to prevent by force, intimidation, or threat, any citizen who is lawfully entitled to vote, from giving his support or advocacy in a legal manner, toward or in favor of the election of any lawfully qualified person as an elector for President or Vice President, or as a Member of Congress of the United States; or to injure any citizen in person or property on account of such support or advocacy.’