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Here's the official apology on the NDP website. Some excerpts:
There's no word yet whether RackNine and Matt Meier will withdraw their $5 million lawsuit.
Media coverage is beginning. They report that Pat Martin refused to take any questions after issuing his apology:
Globe and Mail
ipolitics.ca
And, of course, the National Post going nuts with celebration over this unnecessary embarrassment to the NDP:
NDP MP Pat Martin offers thorough, absolute apology to robocall company RackNine over fraud allegations
If he had a shred of honour, he would resign.
I can think of a dozen Conservative cabinet ministers that would have to resign if held to that standard. Martin should offer his resignation, conditional upon theirs.
Resign from what, Unionist?
And whatever he is supposed to resign from, why over eating a little bit of crow?
And another thread?
Even if RackNine had indicated to the NDP that they would not do anything further if the NDP retracted, they would not publicly say that. They would say what the lawyer said: something to the effect that the owner continues to get his life in order after the damage done to his reputation. [Sniff.]
He doesn't have the sense to do this on a Friday afternoon?
I'm sure the party chose the timing. And I thought the same thing. But this must be the time when nothing else is going on that they want to distract from.
Since it isnt going to be made into a big deal, there's no real harm in having it get more attention because its the only 'news' going.
The apology was obviously written by RackNine's lawyers, and is published as a term of an undisclosed settlement agreement.
ETA: This whole story has the stench of political intrigue. I suspect the launch of the lawsuit was encouraged by Harper, as a way of smearing the opizishin as irresponsible on the Robo-calls scandal. Once launched, it had accomplished its purpose. There was no further advantage to be gained by going through a lengthy civil discovery process that would undoubtedly prove embarrassing to the Conservatives. But the NDP had no stomach for the fight; the hasty settlement has the dead hand of Tom Mulcair all over it.
This round: Harper 1, Mulcair 0.
Back in the news ..good move....and if Rack Nine is implicated in any wrong doings in the future it's going to look real bad for them and real good for PMartin...
With 200 ridings being investigated lets hope the words RACK and NINE don't appear and all is a fine... right? Lets see how long that lasts!
Pasting pictures with telemarketing racks calling them "political super weapons" tells me ..this aint over by a long shot..
Should be interesting to see how the law plays out when someone uses a service for illegal activity ;like how internet servers aren't responsible for a criminal act unless they have knowledge of it....which looks to be the case here. I think we all know who the real criminals are and they are on a 2 week Easter vacation right now covering up their f35 debungles and ripping up environmental laws and regulations.
New http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zky2bn0Gtyg New
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-QvXax88J8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0eQgUpkJ1Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns8LD5Q8ecc
Any guess as to how much money changed hands?
Isn't Parliament in recess this week as well as last week?
So the people that actually made the criminal robocalls are now the heroes if one listened to Canada's mainstream press. It is rather unfortunate that Pat Martin did not available himself of parliamentary immunity when he made his comments. This has the Mulroney taught libel chill approach written all over it.
So NR, you think the NDP should have stood its ground and called RackNine's bluff?
So M Spector is short for Master Speculator? I assume it to be true without conclusive evidence because I thought of it.
I'm not aware of all the tactical considerations that would go into a decision to fight or fold. There may be good practical reasons for wanting this suit to disappear fast (such as lack of money to put up a decent fight).
But I think RackNine is far from the squeaky clean operation that Martin's abject apology makes it out to be.
RackNINE? NEIN!NEIN!NEIN!
Democracy should more appropriately be referred to as corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power. herr Steveler
Pat Martin screwed up. He mentionned the name of a private business in the context of a scandal and they sued. The NDP did not have the interest in going after Racknine-- it is the Conservatives that are the target. Even if a private company had been involved it would never have been worth it to go after them.
It makes sense to issue the apology and move on to addressing the scandals of the government. New Democrats should take note of the efollowing:
1) people are listening
2) businesses are not sympathetic
3) businesses will sue
All people speaking on behalf of the NDP should be told not to issue any statement about a private busienss without considering legal liability. You need to be perfect on your facts to get away with it and open speculation is just not on. For the most part the issue is not about the private company but about the government
That said I wonder how serious the courts would take a claim coming out of this now that hte NDP has apologized and retracted. In cases like this you have to prove a damage-- In this case the statements made were never that Racknine were not good at what they do. They got a lot of publicity out of this and not all negative. It has been widely pointed out that these calls are inexpensive and you can reach a lot of people. They have been truthfully associated with the Conservatives. It is hard to see how their business or their reputations are hurt.
I don't think any serious damage has been done either to Racknine or the NDP.
why would that be worth it?
-- is it a bluff?
If the NDP does not have evidence to support what Martin said then it needed to be retracted. It is not worth going out on a limb attacking a private business. Call the Cons bluff but let's not distract the fight against them on this with a losing fight with Racknine.
Martin made a mistake- he should learn and we all should move on.
I don't think Martin's apology makes out anything other than he said something for which there was no evidence.
I expect any person who is paying attention to this story knows the difference between that, and RackNine being free of suspicion.
And apparently this has not stopped the lawsuit:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/inside-politics-blog/2012/04/for-the-rec...
How could he possibly "know" what he purports to know? What information could have come to his attention that completely and unequivocally exonerates RackNine of any wrongdoing? If he has such proof that RackNine is pure as the driven snow, will he offer it to Elections Canada, which is spending a lot of taxpayers' money investigating, among other things, what RackNine's role was, and save the agency a lot of time and money?
I think the jury is still out on that one.
Martin is no more certain of the truth of what he is saying in his apology than he was of the truth of the original statements he was being sued for.
Anyone who takes this apology at face value is obliged to conclude that RackNine and Meier are above suspicion of any wrongdoing — pace Smith.
Yeah their pre-packaged apology sounds like bullshit. They sound suspicious to me.
Funny when you do a google search for "rack nine" you get a good solid 7 pages of Pat Martin apology links ...not the Elections Canada investigative reports that used to fill the screen..
Innocent intermediary.....We'll see in a year..remember circumstantial evidence was good enough for Colin Thatcher
Searching "front porch conservative "...brings up lots of stuff...they look like the fall guy company
New http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zky2bn0Gtyg New
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-QvXax88J8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0eQgUpkJ1Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns8LD5Q8ecc
That's what I said throughout the original thread. I can't recall anyone agreeing with me, except maybe Michelle.
Then why the 7-week delay? Are they, how shall I say, stupid? Was it the brilliant leadership of Turmel in action yet again? Can they not afford decent legal advice? You see, nature abhors a vacuum, and the strident bullshit of Pat Martin - his pro-Israel, Québec-bashing, "let's merge with the Liberal party" freelancing - is always available to fill the void. You'd think someone in the party would be smart enough to show him the door?
We may yet have an opportunity to find out.
Yea, let's all dump on Pat Martin about this electoral fraud. Sure he fucked up, who hasn't? Seriously, ya think he doesn't realize that.
Shouldn't we be keeping our eye on the real ball - the culprits who committed electoral fraud?
This is an unnecessary distraction and undercuts us as we try to build credibility. Pat this isn't cute any more. Shut the hell up! And if anyone is reading this from Pat's Office, or knows him, he knows who I am and you can tell him I said so.
Enough is enough. I have tremendous admiration for you Pat but this has got to stop. Get back to work for crying out loud and start using your head for something other then making useless noise!
To answer your question Unionist-- they were likely looking to settle, normally you try to negotiate a release in exchange for the apology. Seems it did not work and they got nothing but likely the delay was likely for that attempt.
It is possible that the NDP got screwed that Racknine offered to accept the apology and then decided not to. But still the NDP would have to issue it anyway in order to mitigate the damage.
I am still curious how they can quantify damages.
Yes? And I think there are tradeoffs. Let's hope Pat says something really stupid again to get people's attention. I think there is an overarching principle at stake here. Let's not let them off the hook. I think the NDP should be ragging the puck just a little on this one. Let them come to us, and then we look for a break up the middle.
Yes, the delay is easily explained by negotiations.
And a likely end to them is that RackNine insisted on more than an apology. If the NDP rejected that, the way to proceed would be to issue the apology and let things fall where they will.
Exactly. There may be no settlement but the apology certainly damages the case for the plaintiff.
Two words - libel chill
Classic deke.
You would think if rack nine had a beef it would be with Elections Canada that first uttered the words and link to the robo call fraud in the first place...Pat Martin just afforded them a way to squeeze some money out of the so called innocent relationship between robocalling company and criminal client ...
No question the words are going to come up again and again and it won't be only Pat Martin that makes the leap to "birds of a feather flock together" ..it'll be any logical person and judge.
After throwing stones around in a glass house ...I hope the political rack weapon company is squeaky clean as there will be more crimes added to the roster like obstructuion of justice , mishief, and even maybe even blackmail as in shutup or we will sue, counter suit due to damage to P Martins reputation may follow.
New http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zky2bn0Gtyg New
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-QvXax88J8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0eQgUpkJ1Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns8LD5Q8ecc
I think people should be a little careful about what they say about a private company that is friendly to our enemies and is already known to be litigious. I don't think Rabble has a legal fund.
Just use judgment not to make any claims or suggestions that cannot be proven in court.