Does anyone know what's going on w Pap's qui tam in his lawsuit?

[mod mom]

I thought it was 60 days for the torturer to respond.

[mod mom]

1. background:

FILED on July 13,2006:

Mike Papantonio, partner in the law firm and co-host with Kennedy on “Ring of Fire,” a weekly radio show on the Air America Network, explains the value of the qui tam approach. “The problem with injunctive relief, or mandamus, or prohibition-type writs, is it all comes down to politics. … How do you bring injunctive relief with Blackwell? How do you get Jeb Bush to do anything? They won’t. You have to move outside of that political realm.”

In 2004, Blackwell was in charge of implementing state and federal election laws, while, at the same time, co-chairing the state’s 2004 Bush/Cheney Campaign. Under his watch, election officials neglected to process registration cards from Democratic voter drives, purged tens of thousands of voter registrations and distributed EVMs unevenly, leaving some voters waiting up to 12 hours. According to Kennedy, “at least 357,000 voters, the overwhelming majority of them Democratic, were prevented from casting ballots or did not have their votes counted.” Ohio was decided by 118,601 votes.

The contents of the suit could be under judicial seal for at least 60 days while the U.S. Department of Justice considers whether or not to join the suit. If U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales decides not to join the suit, Levin Papantonio may approach individual state attorneys general. If no one joins, the firm is free to, as Papantonio puts it, “stand in the shoes of the Attorney General and fight on behalf of the taxpayers and the nation.”

“The single greatest threat to our democracy is the insecurity of our voting system,” warns Kennedy. “Whoever controls the voting machines can control who wins the votes.

-snip

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2750/

[Wilms]

2. Thanks for reminding us. n/t

[eomer]

3. Apparently the 60 days can be extended.

Mike Papantonio was interviewed by BradBlog on 8/2/06 and they covered this issue:

BB: About qui tam: I understand that when you file, the government has the option of taking the case, instead of the citizen who files. Is that true?

MP: Correct.

BB: Is there any chance that the government might take the case and then go ahead and spike it?

MP: You mean sit on it?

BB: Yes.

MP: Yes, that’s exactly everybody’s fear, and that’s what we are trying to work around right now. The answer is, yes, that could very well happen, and we’re doing the best we can to not allow it to happen. Interestingly enough, within 60 days they have to make a decision, the decision if they are going to take the case, and they have a right to have one extension, they can get one continuance for that decision, so that’s one thing we have to be very conscious of.

BB: That can leave the disclosure until after the election then.

MP: Oh, absolutely. We’re trying to do what we can in that regard too.

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3115

I googled yesterday, with no success, trying to find a recent statement of the status and I also checked the Ring of Fire website to see if the summaries of recent radio shows had any mention of it. The October 7 show had an interview of Marc Dann that was focused on Ohio election violations so I listened to it. They did not even mention the qui tam lawsuit.

I think they have either been totally gagged from even mentioning the topic (we know they are gagged from discussing it substantively) or else they have made a tactical decision to not even mention the topic. However, I haven't listened to all the recent Ring of Fire shows and probably will as I have time in order to see if there is some brief mention that didn't make it into the summaries on the website. Listening to Ring of Fire is something I really enjoy so it won't be much of a hardship. I'll definitely post if I come across any clue of the status.

In the absence of anything more concrete, it seems a likely bet that Pap's fear was warranted -- that the DOJ has figured out that delay tactics are their best play.

[mod mom]

4. Thank you! It figures that the Torture Enabler will delay it.