Doug's message to the investigator at the WA Commission on Judicial Conduct, Ms. Reiko Callner: -------- Original Message --------
Reiko, today the News Tribune ran the story, also on-line at: http://www.tribnet.com/news/local/1025a16.html Given the Tribune's prior strong endorsement of Judge Cuthbertson (http://search.tribnet.com/archive/archive30/1007b102.html), I'm not surprised that the story trivialized the judge's lack of candor. The reporter had told me that when Tollefson made the allegations at one of the recent candidate appearances, Cuthberton publicly asserted that at Greensboro he had only been "detained" and nothing more. That's exactly what he emphatically told me on 9/12/01 when I warned him that the Internet-posted allegations were being pursued by his opponents. Now, it seems, nobody really cares that he's been dishonest about the incident ever since his 1990 law school application, though he admits that he's been consistently dishonest on every application that has asked him about prior convictions. Personally, I applaud his 1979 civil rights activism, but I abhor his deception of the last decade, and I fear the precedent both for him and the system generally of letting such repeated deception go unpunished. Below is my message to both Cuthbertson and the Tribune reporter three days ago offering my cynical prediction, which is proving omniscient so far. Cuthbertson's endorsers (including me) are listed on his website at: http://www.judgecuthbertson.com/endorsements.html Doug Schafer. -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: Judge Frank Cuthbertson Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2001 09:14:53 -0700 From: Doug Schafer <d_schafer@bigfoot.com> To: Karen Hucks <Karen.Hucks@mail.tribnet.com> CC: Frank Cuthbertson <frank@judgecuthbertson.com> References: <5ABC04EDE275D411B18800902786191123BD35@stamp.tacomanews.com> Karen Hucks wrote: > > Doug, > Thanks for your research. > > Karen Karen, the research was effortless. Due to my own religious war with the State Bar, I have been for several years monitoring the semiannual review of lawyer discipline cases posted on the website of the National Organization of Bar Counsel. (http://www.nobc.org/Cases/cases.html) The first category of their posted update is always "Admission to Practice" cases, and the two cases that I forwarded were summarized there in the last couple of years. Again, my hope is that Frank was sufficiently disclosive on his Bar application that there is no issue. But his initial unequivocal denial to me that he had even been arrested gives me grave doubts. Frank's failure to phone me this weekend to explain or to apologize reinforces my doubts. As you know, Frank is endorsed by ABSOLUTELY EVERYBODY (even me, though I now have second thoughts). (E.g., every member of the Supreme Court, nearly every Pierce County judge, and leaders of the Bar, INCLUDING Prof. David Boerner who chairs the WSBA Character & Fitness Committee). The irony, I predict, is that the same form of societal-governmental group behavior that sheltered bigots in Greensboro in 1979 will likely operate in Pierce County to shelter Frank from public exposure and criticism for misconduct that would be dealt with harshly if committed by a less favored individual. I predict that journalists will trivialize the issue and nobody in the State Bar will even look into it. [I keep constantly in mind that "favorite son" former local judge Grant L. Anderson and his former law partners robbed a public hospital of over $1 million, and no official or journalist was willing to really dig into the details of his misconduct."] Doug Schafer, an idealistic but cynical lawyer. http://www.dougschafer.com |