I’ve received the following e-mail from an attorney representing Maria Chappelle-Nadal:
I represent Maria Chappelle-Nadal. The purpose of this message is to address
various statements you have published about my client. You have
repeatedly slandered and
libeled her by calling her a liar and falsely claiming that she misstated
facts
about financial support you have received from Mr. Sinquefield. All of
Ms. Chappelle-Nadal’s statements are verifiable facts; yours are
intentional lies designed to tarnish her reputation.Neither Ms. Chappelle-Nadal nor I wish to pursue civil litigation against
you. We
will not do so if you immediately issue retractions of your statements of
Facebook, showmeprogress.com and all other mediums you have used to
unlawfully assault her reputation. Your retractions must specifically
state that my client did not lie about the
contributions you have received.If you comply with this request by 9:00am on 8/1/2010, we will refrain
from filing suit
against you on 8/2/2010.Thank you for your immediate attention to this matter. Please do not
hesitate to
contact me with any questions or concerns.
I responded with the following e-mail:
Can you specifically cite which claims that I have made that you believe to be false, and can you please provide evidence to substantiate those claims? As I’ve previously stated, I would gladly retract any statements which are proven to be false, but I will not retract a statement without compelling evidence that it is false.
I send the attorney this e-mail on my behalf as well:
I see that you are threatening Eric Hoffpauir of Show Me Progress with a lawsuit regarding his statement that Maria Chappelle-Nadal is lying about what the St. Louis American wrote in an endorsement of her. I have added the material to my site at Blog Saint Louis and Facebook. I would appreciate if you would add me to any legal action against Eric. I hate to be left out.
Let me make clear, however, that any such effort will be met with an effort to recover all legal costs from you and your client and seek full sanctions for bringing a frivolous lawsuit.
Eric pointed out that the Chappelle-Nadal flyer sent to homes, including mine, distorted the text of the Saint Louis American editorial. The editorial stated:
- Maria Chappelle-Nadal has six years of experience in Jefferson City and is a proven, stalwart progressive battler. Her youthful energy also gives her the edge over Joe Adams, the only other candidate in this race who is free of the taint of major funding by Rex Sinquefield. While we have some concern for her, at times, brash behavior and penchant for picking fights she doesn’t need, we feel she has learned some painful lessons in this regard. It is with raised expectations that we endorse MARIA CHAPPELLE-NADAL IN THE 14TH DISTRICT.
Chappelle-Nadal’s flyer stated:
“Maria…is a proven stalwart progressive battler. Her youthful energy also gives her the edge (and she is) the only candidate in this race who is free of the taint of major funding by Rex Sinquefield.”
Maria is lying in the flyer. There is simply no if, ands, or buts about it. If it is true that Sinquefield has given money to Joe Adams at some point she has an issue with the American for accuracy, but altering the quote is still a lie.
Chappelle-Nadal has been asked for evidence of such a donation and if such evidence exists, Eric, and now I, are willing to issue a full retraction and he has been all along. However, after examining the Missouri Ethics Commission database I find no such funding to Adams directly, nor has any funding to another source been demonstrated to be from Sinquefield and on behalf of Adams’ candidacy. If Sinquefield provided such funding for a flyer, it should be in those reports. If Eric, the Saint Louis American, and I are all wrong on this issue, please provide the MEC report showing such funding from Sinquefield to Adams or on Adams’ behalf. Instead of offering evidence, Chappelle-Nadal suggested that a statement would be issued by AFT which is rather odd given the information should be contained in the MEC records.
Best!
Larry Handlin
For serving me with legal papers, I can most easily be reached at:
7023 Dartmouth Avenue
Saint Louis, Missouri 63130
The same letter was sent to Joe Adams and info@bluepearlonline.com which is an online travel agency. No idea on why it was sent to the bluepearlonline.com, but then again, I can’t really understand why it was sent at all.