{"id":4623,"date":"2009-06-04T10:59:00","date_gmt":"2009-06-04T16:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/06\/wall-street-journal-ignoring-facts-in-its-attack-on-king\/"},"modified":"2009-08-22T14:46:15","modified_gmt":"2009-08-22T20:46:15","slug":"wall-street-journal-ignoring-facts-in-its-attack-on-king","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/06\/wall-street-journal-ignoring-facts-in-its-attack-on-king\/","title":{"rendered":"Wall Street Journal ignoring facts in its attack on King"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At best, business-friendly newspaper is doing shoddy reporting. At worst, it has ulterior motives for distorting the truth with its \u2018pay-to-sue\u2019 allegation.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Wall Street Journal went after New Mexico Attorney General Gary King<\/a> this weekend for a third time in its ongoing \u201cpay-to-sue\u201d assault. Its new editorial<\/a> reveals that the newspaper is not treating King fairly and is doing a disservice to its readers.<\/p>\n

The Journal editorial left out a number of facts that contradict its claim that King took massive campaign contributions from a Texas lawyer who has a contract to sue a pharmaceutical company on behalf of the state. At best, it\u2019s shoddy reporting. At worst, the newspaper has ulterior motives and is cherry picking some facts while intentionally leaving out others.<\/p>\n

At issue is whether Houston lawyer F. Kenneth Bailey was part of the Williams Bailey law firm<\/a> when the firm gave $25,000 to King\u2019s AG campaign on Sept. 27, 2006 and another $25,000 to King on Oct. 18, 2006. Bailey\u2019s current firm, Bailey Perrin Bailey<\/a>, is suing Janssen Pharmaceuticals<\/a> on behalf of New Mexico and a number of other states. The Journal has alleged that Bailey was still part of Williams Bailey when the firm gave the contributions to King and that the situation amounts to pay to play, or what it calls \u201cpay to sue.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

The contract was initially given to Bailey Perrin Bailey by King\u2019s predecessor, Patricia Madrid, in 2006 following a competitive bidding process. A Madrid political action committee took a $25,000 contribution from Bailey in 2005.<\/p>\n

King says Bailey broke off all ties with Williams Bailey in 2004, long before the firm gave money to King\u2019s campaign, so the contract to sue Janssen and the contributions to King\u2019s 2006 campaign are unrelated<\/a>. As evidence, King\u2019s office provided an announcement published on Sept. 5, 2005 in Texas Lawyer<\/a> that indicates that Bailey had left Williams Bailey and helped form Bailey Perrin Bailey.<\/p>\n

The Wall Street Journal\u2019s newest hit piece, in claiming that King is wrong, cites a handful of campaign reports filed with the Federal Election Commission:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cBut Williams Bailey is listed as Mr. Bailey\u2019s employer on campaign documents well past 2004 and as recently as 2007. In fact, on August 23, 2005, Mr. Bailey gave $25,000 to Ms. Madrid, who was then AG, and listed the street address for Williams Bailey under \u2018donor\u2019s address.\u2019 Mr. King can find these facts where we did, on the Web site of New Mexico\u2019s Secretary of State. Multiple reports at the Federal Election Commission also show Mr. Bailey listing Williams Bailey as his employer through 2007.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

Other contribution records left out<\/span><\/p>\n

When a source told me several weeks ago about those contribution records, my eyebrows shot up. I began asking questions, and immediately learned that the situation is much more complicated than the Journal wants you to believe.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s true that some campaign reports from 2004-2007 list Bailey\u2019s employer as Williams Bailey, others list Bailey Perrin Bailey as his employer. Some list Bailey as being self employed, and others don\u2019t list any employer. One lists Bailey\u2019s employer as the Bailey Law Firm, which he formed after leaving Williams Bailey and before helping form Bailey Perrin Bailey. (If trying to keep all this straight has your head spinning, know that it does mine too. Bear with me.)<\/p>\n

You can see the lack of consistency in the listing of Bailey\u2019s employer on campaign reports on the Web sites of the Federal Election Commission (follow this link<\/a> and then search for \u201cF. Kenneth Bailey\u201d), OpenSecrets.org<\/a> and FollowTheMoney.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A couple of contribution forms even contain errors, like spelling Perrin as \u201cPerron.\u201d That reveals a truth the Journal ignores: It\u2019s campaign staffers, not donors, who fill out contribution records. While campaigns often ask donors what information should be included on some forms, if they\u2019re already familiar with the donor, many won\u2019t ask.<\/p>\n

Bailey is a long-time donor to Democrats who has relationships with campaigns across the nation. It\u2019s reasonable to assume some filled out contribution forms without asking him what information should be included, and that they didn\u2019t know he had left Williams Bailey.<\/p>\n

Other evidence<\/span><\/p>\n

If that\u2019s not enough to cast doubt on the Journal\u2019s assault on King, the AG\u2019s office provided me with two noteworthy documents. The first is Bailey\u2019s Feb. 1, 2004 letter<\/a> to then-partner John Eddie Williams (the other half of Williams Bailey) in which Bailey notifies Williams that he is withdrawing from their partnership. The second is a form<\/a> filed with the Texas secretary of state on Oct. 14, 2004 in which Bailey officially created the Bailey Law Firm.<\/p>\n

King has said Williams Bailey kept the Bailey name for a time, \u201ceven though Mr. Bailey no longer participated in the firm,\u201d because of a prior agreement. Williams Bailey didn\u2019t take the \u201cBailey\u201d out of its name until 2007<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s even more evidence, in an article published this weekend in the Albuquerque Journal<\/a>, that contradicts the Wall Street Journal\u2019s claim. The Albuquerque newspaper spoke with Bailey, who said he \u201chad nothing to do with the contributions to King, but did confirm giving $25,000 to a Madrid political action committee a year before his firm won the state contract.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have never given Attorney General King a penny,\u201d the Albuquerque Journal quoted Bailey as saying. \u201cI have never instructed anybody to give Attorney General King a penny.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bailey shared the circumstances surrounding his leaving Williams Bailey with the Albuquerque Journal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know if I was going to practice law again, and when I left they felt it was very important for them to maintain the name. So I said, OK, for a time period, I don\u2019t have a problem (with that),\u201d he was quoted as saying. \u201cThe minute I left that firm, I never once again had one bit of authority to instruct anybody … to pay a check … or nothing. In fact, my law partner (Williams) and I are in a big arbitration right now over some disputes …\u201d<\/p>\n

Facts aren\u2019t on your side? Attack the local media<\/span><\/p>\n

Ignoring all of that, the Wall Street Journal instead points the finger at the \u201csympathetic New Mexico media.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe New Mexico press corps might buy this claim of mistaken identity, but the bottom line is that Mr. Bailey and other plaintiffs attorneys donated big bucks to the campaigns of New Mexico\u2019s attorney general candidates,\u201d the newspaper\u2019s editorial states. \u201cThose attorneys were then hired by the state AG\u2019s office to prosecute a tort claim the tort lawyers have shopped to AGs around the country. Bailey Perrin is still pursuing the case under Mr. King\u2019s dispensation, even as he claims to be an innocent bystander.\u201d<\/p>\n

The facts — which are being revealed by the New Mexico media, not the Wall Street Journal — prove otherwise. King has claimed that the business-friendly Wall Street Journal was being used by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and drug companies that are trying to stop \u201cactivist attorneys general\u201d from taking on big business. In 2006, King said, the groups funneled $650,000 to his opponent through the Republican Leadership Council<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If the Wall Street Journal continues to ignore the facts even as the New Mexico media reveals them, and insists on instead perpetuating falsities, I might be convinced that King is right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At best, business-friendly newspaper is doing shoddy reporting. At worst, it has ulterior motives for distorting the truth with its \u2018pay-to-sue\u2019 allegation. The Wall Street Journal went after New Mexico Attorney General Gary King this weekend for a third time in its ongoing \u201cpay-to-sue\u201d assault. Its new editorial reveals that the newspaper is not treating […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-haussamen-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4623\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}