There's ballsy then there's Pat Martin send him your two cents worth!

Good Day Readers:

Winnipeg Member of Parliament Pat Martin has something few of us possess immunity for defamation. He can talk until he's blue in the face or the cows come home, subject to the Speaker,  whichever comes first without fear of a lawsuit as long as he does it in the House of Commons. So what does he do? Go on national television and gets himself sued for $5 million.

Now he has set up a legal defence fund to help pay his legal fees. Since he's been a vocal supporter of eliminating the penny, you should send him your two cents to show how ridiculous you think he's being.

Is this may still smiling?

Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk

NDP's Pat Martin asks for help against robocall defamation suit

Kelly McParland
Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Pat Martin has a new cause: Save Me From my Mouth.

The Winnipeg MP, famous for saying whatever flits through his brain, is in trouble for allegedly defaming RackNine, Inc., the telemarketing firm that got caught up in the robocall controversy. RackNine hasn’t been charged with anything, or even investigated by authorities trying to get to the bottom of the campaign of fraudulent election phone calls.

That didn’t stop Mr. Martin, who can usually count on parliamentary immunity to protect him from libel suits, but ventured outside the House to continue criticizing  RackNine. In February he assailed  “hundreds of thousands of phony phone calls by the RackNine rascals.”

The company sought to correct his charge, and Martin eventually delivered an abject apology, admitting:

“I singled out a private individual, Mr. Matt Meier, along with his business RackNine Inc. and I wrongfully accused them of being part of a conspiracy to commit electoral fraud,” he said.
“I now know that the statements I made insinuating Mr. Meier’s and RackNine’s participation in an electoral fraud conspiracy were wholly and unequivocally false…. To my knowledge, neither Mr. Meier, nor RackNine, including any employees of RackNine, has ever been investigated for involvement in electoral fraud in the 2011 general election or otherwise.”

But he waited seven weeks to do so, by which time, says RackNine, the damage had been done.  It wants $5 million in damages, claiming “exceptionally inflammatory and sensationalistic” defamation and “ongoing malice” by Martin and the NDP.

So Martin has started a fundraising campaign to pay his defence costs. He’s looking for $250,000. Unlike political contributions, the money wouldn’t be deductible in any way. “It’s not a charity, nor is it a political party donation. It would simply be a contribution to my legal defence fund,” he says. He’s also looking for help from the Board of Internal Economy, which oversees MP expenses and budgets. Why the board would feel obligated to help him out of his private legal problems is anybody’s guess.

Is he remorseful? You be the judge:

“We’re going to defend it aggressively, but it’s a nuisance, let’s face it, and it’s time-consuming and it takes you away from your other interests and your other tasks and duties.”

Yeah, being held accountable for what you say as an elected member of Parliament. Such a nuisance.