Posted on 08/31/2002 2:38:23 PM PDT by Ragtime Cowgirl
The moment I learned I was being sued for libel by multimillionaire developer and obnoxious black nationalist Danny Bakewell, I experienced a moment of mild euphoria, like eating expensive chocolate on vacation, or winning $500 on a last-minute Scratcher.
It is most columnists' dream to have their comments noticed by those about whom they write. So I proudly tacked my legal notice from Bakewell's busy civil litigator Robert H. McNeill Jr. up on my wall, and marveled over what Bakewell could possibly present in court to prove that I had libeled him by calling him a "poverty pimp."
I am thrilled to report that Bakewell -- bosom buddy of Jesse Jackson, Maxine Waters, Johnnie Cochran and much of the nation's posturing, out-of-date black old guard -- was ordered by a judge to pay New Times $25,000 for bringing a baseless lawsuit against me and my colleague The Finger, also known as NT editor Rick Barrs. The suit was intended to quell discussion of Bakewell's charities, for-profit deals and mau-mauing of our cowering white Establishment.
All of which adds up to poverty-pimping.
As I stated in my court declaration, Bakewell, the founder of the Brotherhood Crusade, is a poverty pimp because he "recklessly manipulates racial divisions" and "preys upon the worst conspiratorial delusions of African-Americans for his own political gain" and then "leverages that political power for personal enrichment" and thus is seen by many as worse than Al Sharpton.
I described how Bakewell gets government projects for his for-profit companies, at the same time crassly using his charities to promote himself, get on the news and build up his persona as somebody who can organize a furious crowd of blacks in a hurry. Politicians sometimes give Bakewell the developer what he wants because they fear Bakewell the black nationalist. (For some examples of his shenanigans, see our October 16-22, 1997, cover story, "The Godfather of South Central.")
Bakewell totally blew it in court. His lawyer argued that "the term "poverty pimp' means...groups or organizations of persons that misapply or misappropriate moneys intended to benefit the public" -- and that I had libeled him by not proving that a misappropriation of funds had occurred. The throwback Bakewell needs to be told that the meaning of "poverty pimp" has changed (More on this later.)
Then, not at all trying to be funny, Bakewell's lawyer offered his sole proof that Danny doesn't misappropriate Brotherhood Crusade funds: Danny's signed statement to that effect. Did Bakewell think a judge would accept that as evidence, then grant a libel trial against two award-winning journalists?
"That does not come close...even if you assume and give "poverty pimp' the definition that they have given it," our First Amendment lawyer, Walt Sadler, told Superior Court judge John P. Shook.
Several days ago, I called politicians who have been mau-maued by Bakewell with the cheery news that Bakewell was ordered to pay us $25,000 (Sadler settled for $5,000 less in order to be paid quickly and avoid the lengthy process of collecting on the judgment).
"You are doing God's work, Jill!" said one top elected Democrat. "Poverty pimp should be on Bakewell's tombstone," chortled another.
Despite their glee, none of the politicos I contacted would comment for the record.
No, they said. No way in living hell.
"We can't talk because Bakewell can instantly materialize two busloads of angry charity recipients calling us racists," said an aide to one Democrat. "It could get out that we talked to New Times," said another.
Our cowardly political leaders allow cads like Bakewell to flourish.
In fact, the reason I labeled Bakewell a poverty pimp was because of a brouhaha former mayor Richard Riordan caused last year during a meeting with the L.A. Times, when he blamed "poverty pimps" for sucking up money that does not trickle down to the poor.
A comedic scenario unfolded after that, as Bakewell and others organized scores of black leaders to hysterically demand that Riordan retract his claim or identify the "poverty pimps," and fell all over themselves insisting that no poverty pimps exist in the black community.
God, what a shameful spectacle that was. It was another reminder of how utterly culpable the black old guard is.
Scared, Riordan refused to name any poverty pimps. When I asked him if he meant Bakewell, Riordan only winked and ran down a corridor.
Two months later, I was writing about how our victim-obsessed black old guard was being challenged by black non-race-baiters like Najee Ali of Project Islamic Hope. I mentioned Bakewell as a disgusting example of the black old guard.
The paragraph Bakewell claims left him unable to sleep went like this: "...I can reveal, just between you and me, that the leading poverty pimp in Los Angeles is Danny Bakewell, founder of the Brotherhood Crusade. Bakewell is also a key race-baiter in Los Angeles (my favorite moment was when he showed up with a baseball bat at a work site he said was hiring too many Latinos and not enough blacks)."
After our attorney got our $20,000, I called Ali and Dome Village founder Ted Hayes, the two men I view as leading the hip, black non-Establishment.
Hayes whooped: "Bakewell took you to court and he got pimped? Ha, ha, ha, the good guys win! You gotta put out a press release and show the $20,000 check -- that should give courage to other newspapers to say what is going on, and to finally ask: For all the charity money Bakewell is getting, why is the black community just as poor?"
Hayes believes, and I agree, that, "To keep attention off their...spending [of] all that charity money, what they do is just stampede the herd -- you know, go out and claim it's the white man's fault we're so poor and mistreated. When are brothers going to get sick of Bakewell's bullshit?"
Ali called me from Chicago, where he was pressuring the black community to help police catch the brutal black thugs who bludgeoned to death two motorists.
"Danny Bakewell uses the Brotherhood Crusade and the protesters he is able to pull together quickly through that group to create fear and strong-arm politicians so the politicians will bully others into partnering with his business," Ali said quietly, as if for the thousandth time. "In the black community everybody knows this."
There are several legal reasons I can boldly state that Bakewell is a poverty pimp.
First, I am stating my opinion, and opinions are protected speech. Second, as attorney Sadler notes, "even if it could be construed as a statement of fact it was protected, because Bakewell is a poverty pimp if you interpret that as somebody who callously manipulates the system to his benefit, which he apparently does." Third, you can't commit libel if you make a statement you believe to be true -- even if it is later proved false.
Fourth, if you repeat something uttered against a person in connection with a public issue, it's protected. In our case, Riordan used the term "poverty pimp" while meeting with the Times. We argued that I was furthering a public issue. More important, that protection can now be asserted very early on in a lawsuit thanks to California's Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) law, which was inspired by developers who sued in order to silence citizens or media reporters who repeated awful things claimed about developers at hearings. SLAPP allows judges to quickly rule that such suits do not warrant discovery or a trial, and that plaintiffs must pay all legal fees.
Sadler explains, "Bakewell had to show a probability of prevailing at the very beginning of the lawsuit," or the judge would dismiss his case as a SLAPP -- an attempt to muzzle me.
On April 16, Judge Shook let both sides argue at length, then to the shock of the junior attorney Bakewell sent, Shook ordered Bakewell to pay our $25,000 fees.
Bakewell's side "clearly did not understand how powerful the SLAPP statute is," says Sadler. "But when the judge also awarded us our money, without requiring any further filings -- I've never seen anything like that, and I've done about 30 SLAPP cases."
McNeill, Bakewell's senior lawyer, insists, "I simply think the judge was wrong," but will not appeal.
Bakewell finally coughed up $20,000, but in so doing he provided a disquieting glimpse into how he runs the Crusade, a nonprofit that takes in about $2 million in donations annually and doles it out via grants that are supposed to help turn around minority communities.
If you know where I'm heading with this, you know Bakewell.
Yep, he paid us the $20,000 out of Brotherhood Crusade charity funds.
Mind you, Bakewell is loaded. He controls two firms, the Bakewell Co. of Pasadena and Bakewell Construction of Rancho Cucamonga. He is currently building a luxury, 380-home project at the old Fort Ord site in gorgeous Monterey County, with KB Homes (formerly Kaufman & Broad). He recently sued rich Arizona developers Donald Pitt and Donald Diamond in a squabble over a posh golf resort they planned to build together at Fort Ord.
Yet Bakewell paid his frivolous lawsuit from a charity kitty. What a low, little toad he is.
Kind of proves my whole point about him, doesn't it? Did he really think we wouldn't tell the world?
"We demanded that Bakewell pay us from his personal funds," says Sadler, "but he insisted on using Crusade funds. Legally, he could do it because he named Brotherhood Crusade as a plaintiff in the complaint against us."
And therein lies the art of Danny Bakewell. Unlike the poverty pimps of yesteryear, he's not a criminal -- so far as I know. Because he is a racial bully, but is not doing anything apparently illegal, the L.A. media have largely given him a free pass. Journalists, most of whom are guilt-ridden liberal Democrats, cannot bear to be labeled racist by somebody as powerful as Bakewell.
But Bakewell can call me whatever he wishes. I am working on Bakewell, Poverty Pimp, Part II, so if you have any solid facts of public interest, do give me a buzz.
newtimesla.com | originally published: August 29, 2002
Looks like a good Black Conservative Ping item, MH.
D
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I do not know if she is leaning right as much as she is acting like an old-style liberal. That is, she is attacking the opportunist rich guy who aquires wealth on the backs of the poor (and blames the caucasian establishment for all the ills of the neighborhood).
BIG BUMP!!!!
Awesome!
Got the scumbag. Too bad he wasn't hurt, personally. Wonder how many babies in the community have to go without because the bottom feeder used charity funds....or how many babies won't get medical care....or how many babies will freeze this winter due to lack of heat....or how many senior folk won't get medicines. You get the picture?
Of course, sub-humans that the RATS are, they'll never, ever take him to task and call him a "baby killer".
I'd call her an old-style Democrat. In the manner of JFK. Those were the days when Ronald Reagan and I :-) were also Dems. I don't know how old she is, but if she's old enough to have been a Dem since the 60's, she could easily have views that more represent the current GOP.
I thought my love of Reagan was just an aberration, and I'd go back to the Dems when he left office. Didn't happen.
It's not just the L.A. media. Just how many national news stories have we heard about the extortion practiced by Jessie Jackson in the name of his Rainbow Coalition? I haven't heard any except for the O'Reilly Factor on Fox News, which means cable TV; but for the general public, there haven't been any.
Meantime, I'll go find The Alexis Nexus and bump it.
But it's there, complete and unabridged. (I wish I knew how to post a link in this new format.)
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