Prosecute Paul Hackett
Now that Paul Lewis Hackett III has had his ego deflated and been embarrassed into quitting the Senate race, he should be criminally prosecuted for defrauding his contributors!!! I say charge the bum with Theft and Telecommunications Fraud.
In fundraising appeals, including those done via letter, phone, and internet, Hackett repeatedly assured his contributors that he would not leave the Senate race. People -- depending on Hackett's promises -- gave him a boatload of money. According to this Toledo Blade story, still posted on Hackett's website:
Mr. Hackett raised $465,779 last quarter, a spokesman said – about half of which came from contributions made through his Web site – and had about $230,000 left on hand.
Nearly 1/2 a million dollars!
As you know, despite his promises, Hackett cut and ran from the Senate race yesterday, but he isn't giving his contributors their money back. Why do I think this is criminal?
Ohio's theft law (ORC § 2913.02) says:
No person, with purpose to deprive the owner of property or services, shall knowingly obtain or exert control over either the property or services in any of the following ways:
(1) Without the consent of the owner or person authorized to give consent;
(2) Beyond the scope of the express or implied consent of the owner or person authorized to give consent;
(3) By deception;
(4) By threat;
(5) By intimidation.
Paul Hackett used deception to deprive his contributors of their money. That's theft!
Hackett's actions also constitute Telecommunications Fraud as defined in ORC § 2913.05.
No person, having devised a scheme to defraud, shall knowingly disseminate, transmit, or cause to be disseminated or transmitted by means of a wire, radio, satellite, telecommunication, telecommunications device, or telecommunications service any writing, data, sign, signal, picture, sound, or image with purpose to execute or otherwise further the scheme to defraud.
In this case, Paul Hackett devised a scheme to defraud contributors out of a lot of cash. Then Hackett knowingly solicited funds by many of the means described in the statute above.
Is there a chance that Hackett will be prosecuted for these crimes? I doubt it. But he should be!!!
11 comments:
the ODP's ticket this year is very disappointing for african americans.
i, for one, am tired of being taken for granted. i'll vote for blackwell and sykes. the rest can fck themselves.
Blackwell is African-American, but are his politics good for the African-American community in any way?
As Secretary of State there were widespread problems for voters, especially lower-income African American voters. Now you want to promote him to governor because he looks more like you than the other candidates?
Why've you got such an ax to grind on Hackett? Did you contribute to him? Have you gotten a full accounting of every dollar you ever contributed to candidates?
Politicians are like preachers. Think twice before you go for your wallet. You've been around enough to know that.
To spend so much energy tearing down a guy who's out of the equation seems petty.
I hate racist no matter what color they are.
grandpaboy
I think I've already explained why I dislike Hackett so much. The guy is a dishonest, selfish, opportunist. I hate people like him and think they need to be taken down a peg or two.
I didn't support Hackett in this episode, but "hate" is an awfully strong word.
I appreciate your strong feelings, but I just don't think Hackett is the person you described; he's just a human being, a work in progress like the rest of us.
Let's move forward now, together~
from Daily Words of the Buddha
Hate brings great misfortune,
hate churns up and harms the mind;
this fearful danger deep within
most people do not understand.
Itivuttaka 84
Paul,
Thanks, for everything. You are a man of great character in which I was fortunate enough to be a part of last year.
I hope this is not the end... Livingston isn't worthy to scrape bugs from the bottom of your shoe.
Sincerely,
Peter Deane
Hackett got screwed by the DNC, period, amen. They move people around like pawns just like their Republican couterparts except that the Democrats just can't figure out how to win. I hate it when grassroots participation is trumped by vested interests in the party. Gee whiz, Hackett is an attorney, a vet and had some insight to provide on Iraq; if the Democrats who voted for that war knowing full well that they were probably making a mistake rather than listening to Senator Byrd, would let more people like Hackett come to the table, they'd be out of jobs and they know it.
Harry Reid now putting out rumor that Hackett abused corpses of Iraquis. They are trashing him bigtime!
Mother Jones reported yesterday that there was a whisper campaign that appears to have been orchestrated from the very top or from Sherrod Brown's campaign that Hackett committed war atrocities while in Iraq.
I think you're not identifying the correct parties that need to be prosecuted, Nate.
Nate,
There really is something seriously wrong with you. Beginning to wonder now if that PR leak was an accident...
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