Mario Cuomo sues Greg Palast for $15 million

[WilliamPitt]

Mario Cuomo Sues Book Author for $15M
By SAMUEL MAULL
Associated Press Writer

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/ap/ap_story.html/National/AP.V6620.AP-Cuomo-Libel.html

NEW YORK (AP)--Former Gov. Mario Cuomo has filed a $15 million libel lawsuit against the author of a book that says he improperly influenced a federal judge to throw out a multibillion-dollar verdict against a utility company.

Cuomo says Greg Palast wrote the statement in his best-seller, ``The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.'' Court papers cite a passage in which Palast says he was an investigator who helped make the government's case that the Long Island Lighting Co. lied about the final cost of a nuclear power plant the utility wanted to build.

``I convinced the government to charge them (LILCO) with civil racketeering, and a jury said they should pay $4.8 billion,'' the passage reads. ``Then the governor of New York, a slick operator named Mario Cuomo, reached the chief federal judge in New York _ and poof--the jury's verdict was thrown out.''

The judge referred to in the book, published in February 2003, was U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein, court papers say.

The charge that Cuomo made the verdict disappear is ``a false and unfounded statement of fact,'' court papers say.

...more...

[tlcandie]

1. It isn't the first or the last time... he's been sued before....

It's the chance you take in reporting the truth. Too bad you have to live in Europe in order to print it as he would rather be at his home in the states.

EDIT: Plume? The lawsuit names Palast and Plume as defendants. It seeks $5 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages.

Any link to Wilson's Plume..?

Second EDIT: No it isn't. It is just a sub-section of books from the publisher. Thought it might have referred to one of the execs.

[WilliamPitt]

3. That's 'Plame'

[tlcandie]

8. Thanks! Now I feel VERY stupid.. haven't seen the name in type

for some time now! :dunce:

[stevedeshazer]

23. Hmmm.

TLCandie edited post #1 before I saw it, but the copy of Palast's book I am holding says, "A Plume Book", which apparently is under the umbrella of Penguin Putnam, Inc.

Perhaps this is the source of the confusion?

[RainDog]

5. Plame not Plume

[wndycty]

2. When our heroes fight. . .

I am a huge Palast fan, but I know as rough as he is on Repukes he can be just as rough on Democrats.

[BackDoorMan]

4. Ouch, Greg can afford it...Mario must need it for a good reason, after all

it's Christmas!

[JanMichael]

6. This is sad. I like them both. It wouldn't surprise me if it went either..

...direction.

Reporters make mistakes, sometimes passages are taken out of context and politicians, even the good ones, sometimes play god and manipulate things to what they think may be the better of two outcomes.

[Kanary]

7. The last thing we need

Is feasting on our own now.

I guess it's life, but ... the timing is rotten.

Kanary

[BackDoorMan]

9. "We" as in "we" the people, "we moderates? "we" liberal/progressives,

"We" what? not sure of what you speak.

And the timing is GREAT...it'll make Greg a rock star...instead of an unknown in his own land! (besides the 47 liberals at DU.)

Oracle!

[Myra]

11. Yeah, that's my sentiment Kanary. I'm torn on Palast, but it's bad timing.

Seems like Cuomo would know that.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

10. The truth is always a defense.

And even if it isn't true, for Cuomo to get more than compensatory damages, he will have a high threshhold to prove that Palast was part of a scheme to discredit him orthat he acted with wreckless disregard for the truth.

[Ksec]

12. Is it true?

Seriously.

[Ksec]

13. I mean did he influence the judge?

[Dookus]

14. I don't know...

but I worked on Cuomo's first campaign for Governor and followed his career closely. I think he's a very honorable man, and I doubt he'd file this suit if he didn't think a) he was wronged and b) he can win.

[Jerseycoa]

26. It would be extremely surprising to me

Mario Cuomo, as you say, is an honorable man. I can't imagine him doing anything like this.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

16. I don't know

I was simply stating if it were, then Cuomo doesn't stand a chance

[djg21]

18. Huh?

I think you mean "actual malice," given that Cuomo is a public figure?

[TheWebHead]

15. he was on wednesday. randi rhodes show

3rd hour... talked about it a bit and was very unafraid.
http://www.whiterosesociety.org/

[Cocoa]

17. did anyone read this book?

what is Palast's evidence for this charge, how does he know Cuomo did this?

[Devlzown]

20. I've read it and I've got it in front of me.

The excerpt that was in the article contains most of the information from the book. It's on page 6. There are no footnotes or anything to back up his claim that Cuomo got the judge to throw out the jury's verdict.

[stevedeshazer]

22. Yes. It is in my trembling hands right now.

The only mention of Mario Cuomo in the book is contained in the following sentence: "Then, the governor of New York, a slick operator named Mario Cuomo, reached the chief federal judge in New York - and poof! - the jury's verdict was thrown out."

I should point out that this appears in Palast's updated version of the book, printed in February of 2003. It is on page six of the introductory chapter entitled, "Who Gives a Shit?". There are no footnotes to attribute Palast's charge. The context of the sentence is important, and in short it relates to an assertion by Long Island Lighting regarding their planned nuclear plant. According to Palast, L.I L. asserted that the estimated cost of plant construction would be $1.8 billion. Palast says he found internal confidential memos that indicate the true cost would be $3.2 billion. For more, I recommend the book, it is a great read.

I am a big fan of both of these guys, and I'm in no position to speak to the veracity of either man's statements.

It does strike me, however, that Mario Cuomo is perhaps the greatest liberal speaker I have ever heard, a man that possesses the rare ability to bring a crowd simutaneously to its feet and to its knees. As someone who has some experience as a speaker, I'd chop off some of my fingers to be able to speak like this man. I really do wonder what is to be gleaned by reading between the lines here, but I can't grok it.

I do wish that Cuomo would take out his frustration on Bushco rather than Palast, but how are we mere mortals to know what underlies this dispute? There must be more to it than this.

[Cocoa]

24. Palast wrote that Cuomo basically obstructed justice

to me, it's not a mystery why he is objecting to it. Why wouldn't he, and would that be a good thing if dems in general let people accuse them of serious wrongdoing like this?

[stevedeshazer]

28. I think it's a matter of degree

Is one sentence in the intro of a book worth a $15 million lawsuit? Perhaps. I don't see how it helps Dems, though.

If say, William Safire was similarly sued by Jeb Bush, even if it had merit, would that be good for the Republicans, too? Lots of us would be jumping up and down with glee.

Now, if Cuomo clears himself of the charge, I'll be the first to say I'm wrong, but Palast is no dummy. Cuomo is retired doesn't need the money, so maybe the suit comes purely out of a desire to keep his honor. Time will tell, I suppose.

[Cocoa]

31. you assume Palast is "on our side"

I don't, I think that's a mistake.

He made allegations about Andrew Young and Julian Bond recently that I thought were bogus.

Big red flags around Palast, imo. I think too many people follow him too blindly.

Just the fact that he didn't document that charge should be a red flag, what does he expect, that his readers would just believe him? Why would they?

[Devlzown]

19. Surely Palast has some concrete proof.

He as well as his publishers must be aware of libel laws, so there must be some sort of evidence that Cuomo intervened in this case. It can't just be a matter of Palast knowing someone who knew the judge who told him the judge got a phone call from Cuomo. Now if, for some reason, this evidence doesn't exist anymore....

[Ksec]

21. I agree

Palast knows the game and Im su8re he has documents to back his accusation up

[Dookus]

27. But on the other hand....

Cuomo is one of the top legal minds in the country. He reportedly turned down a seat on the Supreme Court during the Clinton administration.

I really think he only stands to benefit from this if he wins the lawsuit. Otherwise, he just draws more attention to the charge and if he loses in court, people will believe the charge to be true. I think he wouldn't file this suit unless he really believes he can.

[Devlzown]

25. Maybe this isn't about Palast.

I got to thinking about how lax our libel laws are in America compared to other countries, which is why Palast published a separate British and American edition of his book. It doesn't seem like Cuomo would have much chance of winning this case. So why do it? Maybe he's going to run for something. This lawsuit would serve two purposes: it would get him back into the spotlight and it would give him a chance to publicly deny these charges against him before any challenger can accuse him. If he loses the case, it'll be because of our liberal laws and if he wins, it'll be icing on the cake.

[tlcandie]

29. FOX v. AL FRANKEN REDUX?

http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=304&row=1

<snip>
"There are two Cuomos," explained Palast, "Mario Jekyll and Mario Hyde. In public, Cuomo is the sanctimonious defender of the Bill of Rights and the working man, but here he's a bully-boy allergic to the First Amendment."
<snip>

<snip>
As to Cuomo's complaint, Palast said, "I'm not infallible; if I made a mistake on the facts, I'll correct it. But in this case, I'm right on the facts. Cuomo's attempt to censor reports published in the public interest will not intimidate me. Thankfully, I have the support of my publisher."
<snip>

<snip>
Palast said, "Cuomo accuses me of calling him 'corrupt.' He must be reading some other book - the word does not appear in mine. He is clearly uncomfortable about press scrutiny of his conduct. He has chosen to mischaracterize and coerce rather than debate and open the records."
<snip>

[newyorican]

30. I've lived on LI most of my life...

and there was a 4.8B verdict, which LILCO would have had to pay to ratepayers and to local governments. It did "go away" all of a sudden with little fanfare. LILCO had made huge campaign donations to anyone that was looking to line their pocket for years, so suspicion was pretty high that *someone* pulled strings to quash the verdict.

I wonder what evidence Palast has.

[stevedeshazer]

32. Sadly, that is true

This kind of stuff happens all the time. It's quasi-legal bribery.

[fabius]

33. Whatta circus.

Palast certainly has opened my eyes to a bunch of stuff.

I hope he has backup.

Mario is Ok but where was he when we needed him?