Nader Suing Democrats For 'Sabotage, Tricks'

WINSTED — Following his Oct. 27 appearance in Winsted at the Beardsley & Memorial Library, Laurel City native Ralph Nader issued a press release to the national media that he is suing the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Kerry-Edwards Campaign and other Democratic organizations for conspiring to bankrupt and sabotage his 2004 campaign for president.

The suit names Nader, his vice presidential running mate Peter Miguel Camejo and a group of voters from several states as plaintiffs. According to Nader’s lawyer, Bruce Afran, the defendants may be served within the next week, at which point they will be able to answer the suit.

"I’m quite certain the Democrats will be terrified if the Nader campaign begins discovery," Afran said in a phone interview. "We would have the right to go into their private files and see their internal communications about how they created this program. We’re hopeful they’ll be willing to settle and apologize to Ralph and to Peter Camejo."

Nader made no mention of the upcoming lawsuit during his recent visit to his hometown, but Community Lawyer Charlene LaVoie, who works for the Shafeek Nader Trust for the Community Interest, forwarded the press release to The Journal last week.

Afran said Democratic organizations subjected Nader to malicious prosecution throughout the 2004 presidential campaign.

"What the Democorats did was really like what Nixon did to the Democrats in ‘72," he said. "They just engaged in a whole range of dirty tricks."

In Nader’s press release, former Connecticut legislator and Washington lobbyist Toby Moffet is quoted as saying, "We had a role in the ballot challenges," in an article in The Guardian UK in December 2004. "We distracted him and drained him of resources. I’d be less than honest if I said it was all about the law. It was about stopping Bush from getting elected."

Nader says Moffett headed a Section 527 organization called The Ballot Project, which helped coordinate and finance the Democrats’ litigation against the Nader-Camejo Campaign. The goal of the litigation, Moffett said, was "to drain [Nader] of resources and force him to spend his time and money."

Reached by phone this week, Moffett only spoke briefly about Nader, saying he did not want to make specific comments about the case.

"Wherever Nader had a setback, he brought it on himself," Moffett said. "He was aided and abetted by the Republican Party in various places. I think his credibility is zero."

The Nader-Camejo Campaign counted lawsuits filed by Democrats in 18 state courts during the 2004 election, and a total of 24 complaints in less than 12 weeks between June and September 2004. Five more complaints were filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Nader claims the litigation obstructed his and voters’ First Amendment rights to speak, petition and assemble within the electoral arena.

Afran said Nader’s campaign had a budget of about $4 to $5 million, and that much of that was spent on the petition process and on lawsuits.

"The damages are not listed in the claim," he said. "But what is it worth to be destroyed? It is also the voters who are seeking damages. The complaint seeks unspecified damages and the jury will decide what those are. This is essentially a civil rights case. It involves a conspiracy of the Democratic party to destroy [the Nader] campaign and the jury will decide what those damages are worth. The awards in these kinds of cases can be massive."

Nader’s lawsuit contends that, in Oregon specifically, Democrats "stacked" a nominating convention with Democratic voters who refused to sign a petition putting Nader on the state’s electoral ballot.

"The defendants, acting under false pretenses, filled seats in the convention hall with people who refused to sign Nader-Camejo’s petitions, causing the convention to fail," the press release states.

Other reports from Oregon suggest the Nader campaign was responsible for closing the doors to the convention and that numerous Republicans showed up in an attempt to do the opposite of what Nader claims — to sign a petition to get him on the ballot in hopes of drawing votes away from the Kerry-Edwards ticket.

Afran said the pending legal action against the Democrats got "a decent amount of news coverage" in the wake of Nader’s press release and that it will take a while for any major news to develop regarding the suit.

"If the Democrats make a motion to dismiss, that will get news coverage, but we’re probably several months away from that," he said.