[statecom] [adcom] From the Co-Chairs Re: Legal Opinion

Mon May 26 20:52:36 EDT 2008

Grace,

Could you please tell us who contacted the attorney, who formulate the
question for him, and who paid his fees?  Were any fees paid for from GRP
committee funds, your own campaign funds, or by you personally?

This is important to know in interpreting the attorney's statements.

- John

On Mon, May 26, 2008 at 7:25 AM, <Gracegrnrnbw at aol.com> wrote:

> The lawyer who issued this opinion had all of the relevant documents
> (unlike
> merelice implies- including understanding that the Presidential Plan and
> Delegate Selection Plan were passed by our legal bodies).
>
> He made no threat to the Party.
>
> He clearly answers whether Delegates were released at the itme a candidate
> withdrwe or stated they were not running for the nominationof our party.
> He
> said yes, they were released at that time.   (sentence two I beleive of his
> response).
>
> He was asked because we clearly needed a legal opinion.   Merelice had
> suggested such in an email to adcom right after we got Tassinari's letter.
>   It was
> discussed on the next adcom call but the lawyer we have used in the past is
> no
> longer practicing.   And finally Dan decided as well that we needed to talk
> to a lawyer.
>
> Alan Rom is an elections lawyer.   He is recently ex-director of the
> Appleseed Foundation which Nader founded and they have worked together.
> And, after
> he wrote his opinion, I am told by Nadine Cohen who recommended him that he
> has
> voted for Nader every time he could - so he is hardly biased against us or
> Nader.   Unless someone wants to doubt the reference or word of the lawyer
> who
> is heading up our subprime organizing work with us?
>
> I purposefully sought a lawyer I had no personal relationship with.   Dan
> has
> been neutral this whole time (even worked to get Statecom to re-affirm the
> Delegate Selection Plan) and is now disparagingly called a renegade?
>
> The questions sent to the Head of the Elections Divission were *not* in
> fact
> agreed to by adcom.   And missed a critical question of whether someone who
> had withdrawn would legally still be considered a candidate for the
> purposes of
> our Delegate Selection Plan.
>
> Because someone disagrees with someone else should not become a basis for
> not
> allowing them to participate or fulfill their leadership responsibilities
> nor
> be cause for name-calling.
>
> I certainly hope that resolving our delegate allocation is not once again
> postponed by adcom - for all of our sakes.
>
> Yours, Grace
> In a message dated 5/26/08 12:42:23 AM, isis at isisdesign.com writes:
>
>
> > Dear Adcom,
> >
> > I am not engaged in a complaint against the party. Nor am i signer of
> > the minority report. That said, the minority report is not a
> > complaint against the party, it is a minority opinion as allowed by
> > the bylaws. By attempting to label the minority report as a
> > complaint, implying it is a legal complaint, is not understanding the
> > nature of our bylaws in honoring what a minority report is. From the
> > bylaws:
> >
> > 11 Political Practices
> > 11.4 Minority Opinions. Significant minority opinions within the
> > Green-Rainbow Party will be recorded and communicated to other
> > national and regional Green organizations as appropriate.
> >
> > Declaring that i, or signers of the minority report, may not
> > participate in decision making in dealing with any issue is not
> > within your powers as cochairs as per our bylaws.
> >
> > See you at the meeting later today. Time for bed.
> >
> > Peace and Justice,
> > Daniel Melnechuk
> > Party Treasurer
> > State Committee Representative, Third Middlesex State Senate District
> > Procedures, Structures and Meetings Committee
> > Tech Committee
> >
> >
> >
> > On May 25, 2008, at 11:17 PM, Merelice wrote:
> >
> > > On 5/25/08, Daniel Melnechuk <isis at isisdesign.com> wrote:
> > >> Dear Statecom Reps and Adcom Members,
> > >>
> > >>  Please review the legal opinion (PDF) just obtained from an
> > >> election lawyer
> > >> about commonwealth law, our delegate selection plan, and
> > >> communications with
> > >> Michelle Tassinari regarding same. I am not going to extract any
> > >> from the
> > >> opinion since the entirety is important to read.
> > >>
> > >
> > > Dear AdCom:
> > >
> > > Due to the submission of this letter from a lawyer working for two
> > > private clients, offering legal advice and threatening the possibility
> > > of legal action otherwise, we will unfortunately need to devote time
> > > either at Monday's meeting or soon thereafter to consideration of
> > > hiring a lawyer who would be working for the Green-Rainbow Party to
> > > review the letter. It would, of course, be foolish and imprudent to
> > > rely on legal advice from a lawyer working for a client or clients
> > > currently engaged in a complaint against the party (i.e., the minority
> > > report).
> > >
> > > Because the two clients ---Grace Ross and Dan Melnechuck --- are also
> > > members of AdCom, it will be necessary for them and any signers of the
> > > complaint known as the minority report to step aside and not
> > > participate in these decisions regarding the necessity and value of
> > > seeking, selecting, and  paying for legal counsel explicitly
> > > representing the party rather than these individuals.
> > >
> > > It will also be necessary for AdCom not to entertain any changes to
> > > the current delegate allocations as recommended by CDLC and already
> > > communicated to the candidates until such advice from a lawyer
> > > actually hired by the Party is received.
> > >
> > > Sustainably yours,
> > >
> > > Nat Fortune
> > > Merelice
> > >
> > > GRP co-chairs
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > StateCom mailing list
> > > StateCom at green-rainbow.org
> > > http://www.green-rainbow.org/mailman/listinfo/statecom
> > >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > AdCom mailing list
> > AdCom at green-rainbow.org
> > http://www.green-rainbow.org/mailman/listinfo/adcom
> > To email Administration Committee members: adcom.members AT green-rainbow
> > DOT org
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
> **************
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