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State Hears 'Blood Money' Election Case

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  • State Hears 'Blood Money' Election Case

    STATE HEARS 'BLOOD MONEY' ELECTION CASE

    Chillicothe Gazette
    http://www.chillicothegazette.com/article/ 20090904/NEWS01/909040315
    Sept 4 2009

    Read Comments(2) Recommend(1)Print this pageE-mail this articleShare
    Del.icio.usFacebookDiggRedditNewsvine Buzz up!TwitterCOLUMBUS --
    If lawyers for U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt sought to prove that her
    congressional opponent, David Krikorian, wasn't precise when he
    claimed the Republican took campaign money directly from the Turkish
    government, they did a decent job Thursday.

    But if they hoped the controversy over taking $30,000 in campaign
    "blood money to deny the genocide of Christian Armenians by Muslin
    Turks" during World War I will go away soon, they failed miserably.

    Either way, Schmidt's "false statements" complaints against Krikorian
    remain unresolved before the Ohio Elections Commission. Five commission
    members heard six hours of testimony and legal debate before adjourning
    the case until Oct. 1.

    California attorney Mark Geragos -- calling himself a "stealth
    Armenian" whose family name was shortened from Geragosian -- used
    e-mails and other documents to show how campaign money was solicited --
    and possibly laundered -- via lobbyists, Turkish businessmen and other
    "registered foreign agents" of Turkey.

    Geragos' team of lawyers flipped through an inch-thick file of exhibits
    linking Turkish political action committees to Turkish coalitions,
    corporations, a legal defense fund headed by one of Schmidt's lawyers
    and various members of Congress.

    Krikorian's lawyers argued that the Ohio commission shouldn't have
    jurisdiction over federal elections, much less make their client
    prove the complex money trail.

    As a free-speech issue, Geragos said, Krikorian merely has to prove
    he was diligent and not reckless in claiming Schmidt took tainted
    Turkish contributions.

    But Donald Brey and Bruce Fein, attorneys for Schmidt, said Krikorian
    was reckless and should have been able to distinguish between campaign
    contributions from Turkish people and PACs versus money directly from
    the Turkish government -- which would be illegal.

    "I called it 'blood money,'" Krikorian testified of his 2008 campaign
    claims. "I believe that it is. I stand by everything that I wrote in
    the last election."

    Schmidt testified that she has "never received money from a foreign
    government including the government of Turkey. ... I was not raising
    money from the Turkish government."

    If a foreign government tried to give her money, Schmidt said, "I
    would not take it. It would be illegal. I would turn their action in"
    to the FBI or House Ethics Committee.

    Krikorian's defense still seeks to cross-examine Barry Bennett,
    Schmidt's chief of staff, and Sibel Edmonds, a former FBI
    translator-turned-whistleblower.

    In her four-hour deposition Aug. 8, Edmonds described Turkish attempts
    to bribe and blackmail other members of Congress. Edmonds is out of
    the country, so Krikorian will get another chance to call her as a
    witness on Oct. 1.

    Krikorian ran as an independent against Schmidt for the 2nd
    Congressional District in 2008 and plans to try again next year as
    a Democratic candidate.
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