Sunday, January 20, 2008

Elephant Wars: Bring on the Lawyers

At this point the question isn't whether the A2 tilt will inspire a lawsuit but how many. In yesterday's ABJ article on the Elephant Wars, points up new potential legal causes of action, including:

  • An elections law complaint against Team Coughlin for not registering as a political organization.
  • The Party trying to track down the proprietor of the Pink Site, claiming that it is "illegal.
  • Charges and countercharges alleging each side is sending embarrassing communications under in the other side's name.
  • Coughlin pulling phone records to search for evidence that Alex and Co. are doing Party business on BOE time in contravention of orders from SoS Brunner.
Add these to the extant possibilities -- Coughlin attempting to remove A2 based on the Party charter and the competing legal challenges to each side's petitions. It's certainly a lucrative time to be a Republican lawyer.

On the other hand, the collateral damage to the Republicans and their chances in the Fall are just starting. The Party is spending time and energy and, above all else, money on this fight instead of actually gearing up for the election.

And this is only the beginning. At some point a winner will emerge -- then what? If Alex wins, there's no question he will go head-hunting for the people who turned on him. Much of what Coughlin claims against Arshinkoff is off-base, but his penchant for revenge -- even when it hurts the party -- is legendary. We've already seen the start of this. I can't track down what exactly Louise Heydorn did to piss off Alex, but John Widowfield running against her in the primary has Alex's fingerprints all over it.

4 comments:

TBMD said...

I'm reminded of the old Warren Zevon (i think) tune, "Send Lawyers, Guns, and Money".

Scott Piepho said...

Yes, Zevon.

I was tempted to title the post as such, but officially we don't have guns in play. Of course, these are Republicans so there must be guns somewhere.

Anonymous said...

Pho,

You make it sound as if Democrats don't have guns...

Jason Haas said...

All hail the Mutineer!