dannno
02-18-2015, 03:42 PM
Chris Mitchum only lost the election by less than 8,000 votes which was a very close considering what a heavily progressive district they are in.
He is claiming at the ad caused defamation of character and also could have lost him the election.
“I do not intend to go to Washington, D.C., to represent the 24th District..."
(ad cuts off here)
"...to bring back baseball fields, that’s not why I am going. I am going to fight for my country, and I happen to be from the 24th District.”
http://www.independent.com/news/2015/feb/17/mitchum-sues-capps-defamation-character/
Mitchum Sues Capps for Defamation of Character
Claims Campaign Ad Inflicted ‘Severe Emotional Shock and Distress’
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
By Nick Welsh
Republican congressional candidate and onetime kung fu action star Chris Mitchum charged incumbent Congressmember Lois Capps — who beat Mitchum by fewer than 8,000 votes in last November’s election—took his words so violently out of context in TV and radio ads that they constituted defamation of character.
In legal papers distributed to the media this week, Mitchum charged that the offending ads “changed the outcome of the election in Capps’ favor.” Mitchum alleged he sustained “severe emotional shock and distress” as well as “embarrassment, humiliation, loss of employability, loss of future employability, and anguish.” Mitchum is also suing the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which spent $99,000 to air the ads.
Mitchum took exception to the TV and radio spots in which he is quoted stating, “I do not intend to go to Washington, D.C., to represent the 24th District.” Had Capps quoted Mitchum completely, prospective voters would have heard him say, “I do not intend to go to Washington, D.C., to represent the 24th District to bring back baseball fields, that’s not why I am going. I am going to fight for my country, and I happen to be from the 24th District.”
Capps’s ads described Mitchum as “a Tea Party darling,” suggesting that if elected, he would represent the Tea Party on a host of issues rather than his constituents. By providing only a partial quote, Mitchum’s attorney Josh Lynn contends Mitchum was made to look like “a hypocrite and narrow-minded ‘Tea Party’ advocate,” and alternately, that “he would use the elected office for his own purposes not those of his district.”
Typically, the courts afford candidates extremely broad latitude in speaking critically of their opponents for fear of chilling political free speech and the robust exchange of views and information prior to an election.
For elected officials to prevail on defamation charges, they must prove that the statement was false and the person making it knew it was false at the time. As a rule, that’s a high burden of proof. Lynn insisted Capps crossed the line. “They took [Mitchum’s] statement, butchered it, changed the meaning of the words coming out of his mouth to say he wasn’t going to do his job,” Lynn said. “It’s not right.”
The ads proved controversial during the campaign itself. When they aired, both Capps and Mitchum had conducted polling that indicated the race was too close to call. Capps, accustomed to relatively easy victories during her 16 years in Congress, organized a last-minute push to rally the troops.
And for Capps, frequently voted “the nicest member of Congress” by Congressional staffers, the ads in question were uncharacteristically aggressive. Her campaign advisors insisted the ads were accurate because Mitchum, a conservative Republican, had repeatedly stated he was going to Washington to re-instill the original values of the founding fathers rather than bring home the proverbial bacon. Privately, some longtime Capps supporters found the ads hard to stomach.
He is claiming at the ad caused defamation of character and also could have lost him the election.
“I do not intend to go to Washington, D.C., to represent the 24th District..."
(ad cuts off here)
"...to bring back baseball fields, that’s not why I am going. I am going to fight for my country, and I happen to be from the 24th District.”
http://www.independent.com/news/2015/feb/17/mitchum-sues-capps-defamation-character/
Mitchum Sues Capps for Defamation of Character
Claims Campaign Ad Inflicted ‘Severe Emotional Shock and Distress’
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
By Nick Welsh
Republican congressional candidate and onetime kung fu action star Chris Mitchum charged incumbent Congressmember Lois Capps — who beat Mitchum by fewer than 8,000 votes in last November’s election—took his words so violently out of context in TV and radio ads that they constituted defamation of character.
In legal papers distributed to the media this week, Mitchum charged that the offending ads “changed the outcome of the election in Capps’ favor.” Mitchum alleged he sustained “severe emotional shock and distress” as well as “embarrassment, humiliation, loss of employability, loss of future employability, and anguish.” Mitchum is also suing the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which spent $99,000 to air the ads.
Mitchum took exception to the TV and radio spots in which he is quoted stating, “I do not intend to go to Washington, D.C., to represent the 24th District.” Had Capps quoted Mitchum completely, prospective voters would have heard him say, “I do not intend to go to Washington, D.C., to represent the 24th District to bring back baseball fields, that’s not why I am going. I am going to fight for my country, and I happen to be from the 24th District.”
Capps’s ads described Mitchum as “a Tea Party darling,” suggesting that if elected, he would represent the Tea Party on a host of issues rather than his constituents. By providing only a partial quote, Mitchum’s attorney Josh Lynn contends Mitchum was made to look like “a hypocrite and narrow-minded ‘Tea Party’ advocate,” and alternately, that “he would use the elected office for his own purposes not those of his district.”
Typically, the courts afford candidates extremely broad latitude in speaking critically of their opponents for fear of chilling political free speech and the robust exchange of views and information prior to an election.
For elected officials to prevail on defamation charges, they must prove that the statement was false and the person making it knew it was false at the time. As a rule, that’s a high burden of proof. Lynn insisted Capps crossed the line. “They took [Mitchum’s] statement, butchered it, changed the meaning of the words coming out of his mouth to say he wasn’t going to do his job,” Lynn said. “It’s not right.”
The ads proved controversial during the campaign itself. When they aired, both Capps and Mitchum had conducted polling that indicated the race was too close to call. Capps, accustomed to relatively easy victories during her 16 years in Congress, organized a last-minute push to rally the troops.
And for Capps, frequently voted “the nicest member of Congress” by Congressional staffers, the ads in question were uncharacteristically aggressive. Her campaign advisors insisted the ads were accurate because Mitchum, a conservative Republican, had repeatedly stated he was going to Washington to re-instill the original values of the founding fathers rather than bring home the proverbial bacon. Privately, some longtime Capps supporters found the ads hard to stomach.