Readers of the “Warning Signs Missed: ILEP” series that appeared recently in The Examiner will recall that none of the officials connected with the Institute for Law and Economy Policy tax-exempt foundation responded to my repeated requests for comment.
Now Sandra Stein, the long-time ILEP executive vice president and former Milberg Weiss staff attorney responds to a Friday posting about the Examiner series by Walter Olson at Point of Law blog. Stein’s response is to dismiss the Examiner series as full of “falsehoods” because the evidence was wrongly interpreted? Key facts were ignored? People were misquoted?
No, according to Stein, the Examiner series was based on falsehoods because Phil Anschutz, the guy who owns the newspaper, was once sued by Stein’s former employer:
“Please be advised the Washington Examiner has a pro-business, anti-shareholder/investor reputation. The owner of this paper is Philip Anschutz, a billionaire, who also owns Qwest Communications. Philip Anschutz recently settled a shareholder class action suit against Qwest for $400 million, which was filed by the real targets of this smear campaign, Milberg Weiss and Bill Lerach. This smear campaign by the Washington Examiner is based on falsehoods and is motivated by retribution and revenge.”
I believe that fully qualifies as an illustration of the fallacy of ad homenum logic – all greeks are liars, he’s a greek, therefore he is a liar. You can read the rest of Stein’s response and my comment on it at PointofLaw.com.
One of the major points on which Stein and other ILEP folks declined to discuss was the organization’s funding sources. The ILEP IRS 990 tax returns that are supposed to provide extensive details on a tax-exempt group’s funding are notably vague.
But one key ILEP funder is known – Bill Lerach gave ILEP $50,000, according to his recent sentencing memo to the federal judge that sentenced him to two years in federal prison and two years of probation following his conviction on a felony conspiracy charge in connection with Milberg Weiss’s kickback scheme.
If Stein is now ready to start talking about ILEP, perhaps she will tell us whether ILEP plans to return that $50,000 from Lerach. Most of the political candidates that have received political contributions from Lerach and other Milberg Weiss attorneys are now in the process of returning the money.
Will ILEP?
Politics
Democrats
GOP
Conservatives
Liberals
Congress
McCain
Obama
Milberg Weiss
Bill Lerach
