Posted on 12/28/2006 8:19:59 PM PST by HAL9000
Excerpt -
In what police describe as a "probable" suicide leap, a prominent Monterey Bay Area attorney fell at least nine floors to his death at the Embassy Suites Hotel Monterey Bay in Seaside the morning before Christmas.Shortly before 9:30 a.m. Sunday, officers found the body of Aptos attorney Paul Sanford in the west end of the hotel lobby, where he had landed on a large ventilation grate.
Police Capt. Steve Cercone said horrified guests were eating breakfast in the atrium at the time, and a number of witnesses saw Sanford fall from somewhere between the 9th and 12th floors.
"I'm at a loss for words," said Sanford's friend and business associate, Monterey attorney Shawn Mills. "Paul really had his fingers in a lot of different pies. He was from the East Coast, and I used to call him our 'West Coast Kennedy.'"
~ snip ~
(Excerpt) Read more at montereyherald.com ...
I guess his conscience got to him.
Or his clients'. Ever think about that?
Err, uh ... Huh?
O Lord! A lawyer splattered on a ventilator grate! Naturally, the horrified guests had to run from the whole building served by that HVAC system - who wouldn't? Couldn't he at least land away from the ventilation intake?
Yup!
Sanford recently purchased his mother's home in Pebble Beach, and Mills said his friend planned to retire there one day.
Sanford was also active in the national arena. He appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2004 beside Elk Grove resident Michael Newdow when he argued unsuccessfully that the words "under God" should be stricken from the Pledge of Allegiance.
A passionate believer in "a dynamic Constitution," Sanford always carried a copy of the U.S. Constitution in his pocket, Mills said.
"He was a champion of the downtrodden, he represented homeless people in Santa Cruz, and fought for free speech," Mills said. "He did a run across America. You name it he's done it. This is a real shock and a loss to the community."
Mills said Sanford decided in recent years to add journalism to his many occupations.
Almost immediately, he caused a stir after he joined the White House Press Corps in 2005, making waves as the first reporter to ask then-White House press secretary Scott McClellan whether the leaking of CIA agent Valerie Plame's name might be considered an act of treason.
"There has been a lot of speculation concerning the meaning of the underlying statute and the grand jury investigation concerning Mr. Rove," Sanford asked. "The question is, have the legal counsel to the White House or White House staff reviewed the statute in sufficient specificity to determine whether a violation of that statute would, in effect, constitute treason?"
Presumably there will be an inquest and evidence taken, to determine if any foul play was involved.
Exactly the material I was thinking of.
I suppose declaring it a suicide saves rounding up hundreds of suspects...
Police said that before Sanford fell, hotel housekeepers saw him pacing the hallway of an upper floor. Cercone said Sanford's car was parked next to the hotel, and he was not checked in as a guest.
OK, how did he offend Hillary?
He must have heard about Saddam's imminent execution, fell into a well of despair and took his own life.
It's not nice to say such vile things about the recently dead.
I think he was depressed over the imminent collapse of Air America.
Police Capt. Steve Cercone said a note had not been found, but there was no evidence of an accident or foul play. Sanford, who lived in Aptos, was not staying at the Embassy Suites and several hotel employees told police they saw a man pacing the halls of one of the top floors of the 12-story building, the tallest in the area.
"There is no indication that it was anything other than a suicide," Cercone said. "We believe it was not an accident based on the fact that someone would have to make a definite effort to climb over the balcony."
In 2004, Sanford appeared before the Supreme Court with Michael Newdow, an atheist who sued the Elk Grove Unified School District, claiming that the mention of God in the Pledge of Allegiance violated the First Amendment's separation of church and state.
More recently, Sanford was in court on his own behalf, in a breach of contract and defamation lawsuit against Michael Zwerling, the owner of KSCO and KOMY radio stations. According to his attorney and friend Shawn Mills, Sanford alleged that Zwerling broke a 2005 agreement to sell airtime to Sanford and provide him with media credentials. Zwerling declined to comment.
According to media accounts, the disagreement between the men started after Sanford used a KOMY press credential to join the White House press corps and asked then-press secretary Scott McClellan if the administration's leak of Valerie Plame's identity was tantamount to treason. It's unclear what will happen with the case, which was set for trial in February.
"I know it was particularly troubling for him," Brennan said. "He felt he was treated very poorly and it was difficult for him to understand."
The punchline to an old joke was: "a great start"!
Oh, nice one, Sport.
Say, you are a good sport, aren't you?
; )
Labels: Air America Radio, In memoriam, KOMY, KRXA, Paul Sanford
Sounds like a guy who would have a great number of folks around that would be more than willing to chunk him over a balconey. I find it hard to believe that a guy with the kind of ego this guy had decided to off himself suddenly. If he did kill himself some might agree that if it becomes a trend for lawyers to do the same that might not be too bad a thing.
I'll be nice and not say what I think of the dearly departed credentials.
one less lawyer is a good thing
Local law professor Paul Sanford says he's "doing terrific" after appearing alongside atheist Dr. Mike Newdow before the Supreme Court last week as Newdow argued that "under God" is a divisive addition to the Pledge of Allegiance.
"It was somewhere between humbling and intimidating to get that close to history. I felt a burst of adrenaline," said Sanford, noting that this was the first case that Newdow (whom The New York Times categorized as a "nonpracticing lawyer") has ever handled.
Describing Newdow's performance as "composed, brilliant and passionate," Sanford said some might categorize Newdow as "a zealot," but the participation of zealots has been "critical to the success of social movements."
Sanford said it was "a challenge for Mike" to contain that zeal and be neither strident not intimidated by being within spitting distance of the justices, and that the California atheist prepared for the task by sitting in on the court ahead of time.
"He saw that the justices are human beings, who sit in huge chairs that make them look smaller,' said Sanford, as he gleefully recalled how it was Newdow who managed to make Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist look smaller, after Rehnquist asked Newdow if he knew the vote when Congress adopted "under God" in 1954.
"When Newdow said it was unanimous, Rehnquist said that didn't sound divisive, at which point Newdow replied, "That's only because no atheist can get elected to public office," at which point the audience erupted into applause, which apparently is almost unheard of in the decorum-bound chamber."
Still, Sanford, who was ordering milk in Peet's last time we saw him, isn't cracking open the bubbly, at least not just yet.
"Mike is predicting an 8-0 win. I hope he's right, but I think it's more likely than not that he'll lose. He knocked back every argument the justices threw at him, but they seemed to be looking for excuses and reasons why he should lose the case."
Sanford, who was by Newdow's side to handle the running dogs of the press and choreograph Newdow's appearances on the The Larry King Show, CNN, ABC and MSNBC, et al., recalled how "they all send cars. It's rather heady stuff for two people who don't live in the city, it's tiring in a city with traffic, but it's been the most meaningful and empowering experience of my career."
That said, Sanford asked Nüz if he looked "terrible" in the photo that ran in the March 25 issue of The New York Times.
Not terrible, but definitely a tad concerned--which is hardly surprising given that he and Newdow are flanked by a crowd wielding signs that say, "One Nation Under God," "In God We Still Trust" and other non-atheist-tolerant things.
As Sanford puts it, "It was a wild, wild scene."
Beat me to it.
Later I heard that Zwerling bought KOMY, but that it was returned to air as a one watt station. A relic of its former self, but still on the air. Local news was not part of the format that I knew of.... So in essence that makes me the last official news-director with a press card of KOMY...
How some dirtbag lawyer could use MY press credentials at the White House is beyond me---and to ask such a bizzare question...jjeez
No. 02-1624, Elk Grove Unified School District et al. v. Newdow et al.
Argued March 24, 2004
Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed for American
Atheists by Paul Sanford;
OK, be nice!
(darn, too late;)
IMO, he sounded like a nutcase.
My brother is a detective - he says that these are listed as "jumped, fell or was pushed" until they have some idea what happened.
Paul Sanford - 2004: "God is dead."
God - 2006: "Paul Sanford is dead"
Besides his maker...
Logged off at work too soon, knew I'd be beaten with the obvious Arkancide tie-in........... 8-}
A passionate believer in "a dynamic Constitution," Sanford always carried a copy of the U.S. Constitution, [handwritten in pencil] in his pocket, [along with a big fat eraser for times when it gets inconvenient as originally written] Mills said.
That's better.
Reads as though his love for the west coast got to him.....very closely and with a high impact....
Paul Sanford, Coward.
Maybe he was despondent that Joe and Valerie totally failed in an attempt to discredit President George W. Bush.
After all, he was called the "West Coast Kennedy". If that was refering to Teddy - theres a ot of unreasoned hate there. Hate does strange things to people.
Now he's a good lawyer.
Now if we could just get Newdow to follow him over the railing.....
Finally, a law he couldn't bend - gravity.
"West Coast Kennedy"
If only more Kennedys thought like this guy.
This will be the fate of Cindy Sheehan.
Please see post #28. The Left planted an unqualified shill in the WH Press Corps who decidedly did *not* get the Jeff Gannon treatment...
I feel this way every time I deal with a lawyer. Welcome to my world.
Yup....He did the Marcy Park Walk.
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