Bar levels complaint against anti-Kerry veteran (Oregon Bar Association)

The World Link.com ^ | 26 August 2004 | Staff

[NavySEAL F-16]

PORTLAND (AP) - A county prosecutor who appeared in an ad criticizing Sen. John Kerry's war record has become the target of complaints to the Oregon Bar Association, alleging he made misleading statements in a sworn affidavit.

The bar has received 28 complaints in three days against Assistant Clackamas County District Attorney Al French, bar spokeswoman Kateri Walsh said.

French, a 20-year employee of the DA's office, appeared in the ad sponsored by the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

The ad stopped airing a week ago but remains a hot-button issue in the presidential campaign. It accuses Kerry of lying about his actions in Vietnam and the medals he was awarded for those actions.

In the spot, French says: "I served with John Kerry. ... He is lying about his record."

Before filming the ad, French signed a sworn affidavit asserting that Kerry received his Purple Heart medals "from negligently self-inflicted wounds in the absence of hostile fire."

In an interview with The Oregonian newspaper last week, French said he relied on secondhand accounts in making the statement, and had not personally witnessed Kerry in action.

That formed the basis of several of the complaints filed by fellow attorneys, some of whom noted in their letters that their objections were not motivated by politics.

"I encourage you to consider whether any rules were violated when Mr. French, by his own admission, appeared at least to misrepresent the truth when he swore under oath to facts of which he had no personal knowledge," wrote attorney Doug Sandstrom in one complaint.

"A fundamental requirement of (an affidavit) is that the affiant have personal knowledge of the matters therein related," Newport attorney David M. Gordon wrote in another.

A message left on French's answering machine was not returned Wednesday.

If the complaints are found to have merit, French could face a public reprimand, or a suspension or loss of his law license, Walsh said.

But that's not likely, said one expert in Oregon legal ethics. In the affidavit, French never directly claimed he was an eyewitness to Kerry's actions in Vietnam, said Peter Jarvis, an editor of "The Ethical Oregon Lawyer."

"If people want to disagree about what happened 35 years ago, and each has his or her own recollection, you can't say anybody has made a misstatement of fact," he said.

The controversial ad backfired on another attorney Wednesday, when Bush-Cheney campaign lawyer Benjamin Ginsberg resigned after acknowledging he advised Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The group by law cannot be affiliated with either campaign.

[flashbunny]

ah yes, watch the kerry campaign implode.

Make sure the memories of these days are seared -seared into your minds, so you can tell future generations that you witnessed a landslide unfolding.

[Tamzee]

Vicious, scum-sucking leftists... trying to destroy the career he's built over decades because they don't like his speaking out against Kerry.

[wai-ming]

by his own admission, appeared at least to misrepresent the truth when he swore under oath to facts of which he had no personal knowledge

Does this apply to John F. Kerry as well? He swore under oath to "atrocities" of which he "had no personal knowledge."

What does it take to file a law suit?

[Libertarianize the GOP]

Only Democrats or their supporters are entitled to lie?

[HitmanLV]

Exactly why I have 'retired' status in the NY Bar. I can file some paperwork and pay some money and be active again (and subject to their authority), or can remain retired and not have to deal with them,

[Mach9]

You bet.

[TFine80]

Stuff like this means the Swifties are never going to let up.

[Libloather]

...alleging he made misleading statements in a sworn affidavit.

Can't Effin' Kerry be brought up on the very same charges? Consider the first purple heart. Maybe the second purple heart. Probably the third purple heart.

Does falsifying government documents have a statute of limitations?

[mtntop3]

The head on this from World Link is of course wrong and asinine. The Bar (Association) of Oregon has not "leveled" any complaints against the attorney. It has merely received some complaints - all of which, as the article indicates, are not likely of any consequence.

The article itself appears objective, including the noting of the Ginsberg aspect.

[Mach9]

Wondering what "personal knowledge" has to do with deducing truth; but more importantly--isn't there usually a to-the-best-of-my-knowledge condition in any affidavit? Somehow I can't imagine that the language in Swiftboat affidavits would be so constructed as to invite anything actionable.

[P-Marlowe]

"A fundamental requirement of (an affidavit) is that the affiant have personal knowledge of the matters therein related," Newport attorney David M. Gordon wrote in another.

Not true, you can file an affidavit based on hearsay and in administrative hearings hearsay is admissible. In this case French's affidavit was based upon information he received from people who were actual witnesses to the events.

In order to find Mr. French in violation of ethics he would have to have sworn to something that he knew to be false, not something he believed to be true.

As it stands, even Kerry has admitted that his first Purple heart was the result of his own negligence. So where is the ethical violation?

[dila813]

They are pissing them and us off!

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

TRANSCRIPT: 8/26/04
Steve Gardner, Foregunner, PCF44:
http://swift2.he.net/~swift2/gardner2.mpg

"I spent more time on John Kerry's boat than any other crewmember.

John Kerry hasn't been honest - he has been deceitful.

John Kerry claims that he spent Christmas, in 1968, in Cambodia.

And that is catagorically a lie. Not in December. Not in January.

We were never in Cambodia on a secret mission. Ever."

Ramsey Clark to Join Panel for Saddam’s Defense

arabnews press release 25 August 2004

NOTE :
Ramsey Clark is pictured below with Kerry and
Vietnam phony vet Al Hubbard
Who was head of the
Vietnam Veterans Against the War movement.


Al Hubbard Sgt., 22 Troop Carrier Squadron Aug. ’65-June ’66
- Al Hubbard, proven fraud who never set foot in Viet Nam.
The only Vietnamese he ever met was
when he was collaborating with the North Vietnamese in Paris
on the American Communist Party's nickel.

John Kerry's explanation:
"He (Hubbard) simply exaggarated his particular position.
But nobody knew it at the time. And those things happen."

NEW:
FReeper smith288 has an online version of
Kerry's "The New Soldier"
You can read it without downloading pdf files!
CLICK HERE

The New Soldier, (46 pages)
By John Kerry
and Vietnam Veterans
Against the War
PART I (pdf file)
PART II (pdf file)
PART III (pdf file)

Kerry hopes everyone
in the USA gets this book!

NEW:
“Without question,
we were held captive longer
because of the anti-war people,
the Kerrys, the Fondas and Haydens,
the names we knew over there -
they encouraged the enemy to hang on.”
Excerpt from “Stolen Honor” website
- Leo Thorsness
Former Vietnam POW
CLICK HERE

Jane Fonda tells the student audience at the Michigan State University in 1969;
"I would think that if you understood what communism was, you would hope,
you would pray on your knees, that we would someday become communist."

Joe Moore, Can Tho Airfield 550th Signal Company

Copy and paste the links to everyone you know.

Send this url for the Steve Gardner video

http://swift2.he.net/~swift2/gardner2.mpg

Send this url for the online version

http://ejsmithweb.com/fr/newsoldier/

Send this url for the Stolen Honor website

http://www.stolenhonor.com/

Print this out (46 pages) and disribute it,
especially to the liberals you know.

http://nomayo.mu.nu/archives/New%20Soldier%20Inro.pdf

http://nomayo.mu.nu/archives/New%20Soldier.pdf

http://nomayo.mu.nu/archives/New%20Soldier%20Epilogue.pdf

[taxesareforever]

"I encourage you to consider whether any rules were violated when Mr. French, by his own admission, appeared at least to misrepresent the truth

I thought for sure that this was the modus operandi for members of the BAR association.

[foobeca]

The Democratic People's Republic of Oregon squelches free speech.

[xzins]

This is a copy of the affidavit. It is found at: http://www.oregonlive.com/public_safety/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1093089949215830.xml

Another thread on this was at: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1198430/posts?q=1&&page=110#110


ALFRED FRENCH'S AFFIDAVIT
Saturday, August 21, 2004

The following is the sworn affidavit of Alfred J. French III, signed July 21, 2004:


"My name is Alfred J. French III. I am over the age of 21 years, and I am fully competent and able to make this affidavit. I am able to swear, as I do hereby swear, that all facts and statements contained in this affidavit are true and correct and within my personal knowledge or belief.

"I served in Coastal Division 11 with John Kerry during his brief stay in Vietnam. My picture may be found (against my wishes) on John F. Kerry's ("Kerry") website, www.johnkerry.com, under his Lifetime commercial, where John Kerry includes my picture along with 18 other Patrol Craft Fast ("PCF") (also known as Swift boats) commanders in An Thoi along with him during his service there. I am a retired Captain in the United States Navy Reserve and was an Ensign when serving with Kerry.

"Kerry has wildly exaggerated and lied about his record in Vietnam. By way of example, on two occasions Kerry obtain Purple Hearts under false pretenses from negligently self-inflicted grenade wounds in the absence of hostile fire. His first Purple Heart is the subject of widespread coverage. Thus, for example, his third Purple Heart of March 13, 1969 is attributed in his report of that day to a "hip wound" from an enemy mine while he himself admits on page 313 of Tour of Duty (by Douglas Brinkley; New York: Harper Collins, 2004) that he was wounded supposedly by a grenade placed in a rice bin by friendly troops. Kerry's commercials, for example, portraying him as a soldier with bandolier going through the jungle totally mischaracterizes his actual role in Vietnam.

"Most important to me, Kerry has lied about our record in Vietnam, claiming on a 1971 Meet The Press show that our unit was engaged in "atrocities." This is not true. On the Dick Cavett Show on 1971 (cf. Kranish at 92), he claimed that crews at An Thoi were involved in a mutiny. This was likewise a lie. There are many other lies that Kerry has told about his record and our mutual record in Vietnam.

"Further affiant saith not.

"Alfred J. French III"

[mass55th]

Here's a copy of the letter I sent off to this news link:

Dear Editor:

I find it fascinating that so many people complained about Assistant Clackamas County District Attorney Al French's second-hand comments about Senator Kerry's Vietnam service, seeing as John Kerry's second hand, and sometimes even third-hand reports of war atrocities were lapped up by the political Leftists back in '71...no questions asked.

The pundits' biggest argument about the claims of the Swift Boat Vets for Truth is that "they didn't serve with John Kerry." Yet John Kerry didn't serve with any of the men whose atrocity claims he presented to the Senate in April of 1971. Why is it when a Swift Boat Vet like Larry Thurlow, who although he didn't serve on Kerry's boat, but served within feet of him is labled a liar, but a man like Bill Rood, who also served on a separate boat from Kerry's, is claimed to be credible because his version supports John Kerry's?

The hypocrisy of the Liberal Left and main stream media is piled so high in front of them, I'm surprised they haven't tripped over it yet.