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Georgetown News Democrat
July 31 2010
Schmidt-Krikorian battle heating up again
Political dispute between Congresswoman and former foe continues
By MICHAEL ARTHUR
Associate editor
The ongoing discord between Second District Congresswoman Jean Schmidt
and former candidate David Krikorian has heated up in recent weeks.
Schmidt has announced her plans to establish a Legal Defense Fund
related to a civil lawsuit filed against Krikorian in Clermont County,
while Krikorian has asked the Office of Congressional Ethics to launch
an official investigation into what he believes to be hundreds of
thousands of dollars in legal services that he says Schmidt improperly
accepted and failed to disclose.
The new developments mark the latest chapters in an ongoing feud
between Schmidt and Krikorian that dates back at least two elections
cycles, and both developments have ties to an Ohio Elections
Commission investigation of Krikorian that was initiated in 2009 at
Schmidt's request.
In the lawsuit filed in July in Clermont County Court of Common Pleas,
Schmidt contends that Krikorian wrongly and unfairly accused her of
accepting money from Turkish-American lobbying interests in exchange
for her denial of the "Armenian Genocide," when more than 1 million
Christian Armenians were killed by Muslim Turks in the early 1900s.
In his request for an official congressional ethics investigation,
Krikorian accuses Schmidt of accepting legal services valued at
several hundred thousand dollars from Turkish-American lobbying
interests during hearings held by the Ohio Elections Commission and
three other legal actions. Krikorian says Schmidt not only accepted
the services without obtaining permission from the House Ethics
Committee, as is required for high-value contributions to candidates,
but also that she failed to include her acceptance of the services on
mandatory financial disclosure documents.
Krikorian is hoping the House Ethics Committee will investigate and
admonish Schmidt and force her to repay the Turkish American Coalition
for the legal services its attorneys and central members provider her.
Schmidt is asking the court for $6.8 million in damages in the
defamation suit against Krikorian in which she claims he made
knowingly false statements about her.
Although Ohio's Second Congressional District has a relatively small
amount of Armenian-American or Turkish-American populations, Armenian
and Turkish issues have been at the forefront of the dispute between
Krikorian and Schmidt.
Krikorian is of Armenian decent and said grandparents on both sides of
his family are Armenian Genocide Providers. In his request for an
investigator, Krikorian claims that Schmidt's legal fees and expenses
in the OEC action against him were provided by at least two attorneys
who are instrumental members of the Turkish-American Coalition and the
Turkish American Legal defense Fund.
Those organizations, the TCA and the TALDF, are strong advocates for
advancing the positions of the Turkish government, including opposing
the Armenian Genocide Resolution, Krikorian said.
"I believe the total fees and expenses associated with the OEC Action
exceeded $200,000 and may have ranged up to $500,000," Krikorian said
in letters to David Skaggs and Porter J. Goss, co-chairmen of the
Office of Congressional Ethics.
Krikorian said that, for a congressional representative to accept
gifts greater than $350, special permission from the House Ethics
Committee is required. Additionally, he said that a special "waiver of
disclosure" is required for a congressional representative to omit
such gifts from disclosure statements.
Although special permission from the House Ethics Commission is not
necessarily made public, Krikorian said he sincerely doubts that the
Ethics Committee approved of such a large gift from a lobbying group.
He additionally said that disclosure waivers are also kept secret,
although he said House rules require that the actual request be made
public, citing House Rule 25, clause 5 that states: "a request for
waiver of the disclosure requirement is required by law to be made
publicly available."
Krikorian added that depositions of former Chief of Staff Barry
Bennett show that special permission for the gifts was not sought by
or provided to Schmidt.
Schmidt's camp, on the other hand, contends that the congresswoman has
not ethically compromised herself. In a telephone interview with The
News Democrat, Bruce Pfaff said Schmidt and her legal team have
consulted with the appropriate ethical watchdog agencies, including
the House Ethics Committee, as the appropriate course regarding the
legal actions.
In fact, the Legal defense Fund Schmidt is creating requires approval
of the House Ethics Committee to be established.
Pfaff noted that the Legal Defense Fund will accept contributions only
from American individuals and organizations, and not from foreign
entities. Contributions to the fund will be limited to $5,000 per
person.
Krikorian said he believes Schmidt only initiated the Legal Defense
Fund after she got word of his plans to request an ethics
investigation. He thinks she will try to use the fund to retroactively
pay for the services of the TAC lawyers in an attempt to avoid the
ethical conflict.
In the civil suit Schmidt goes after assertions made by Krikorian
during the 2008 election, including his claim that she accepted "blood
money" from Turkish interests.
Krikorian said he still stands behind that characterization of
Schmidt's involvement with Turkish interests.
"It was just my choice of words," said Krikorian. "I feel that is what it is."
Pfaff notes that Krikorian was found by the OEC to have knowingly made
false statements with reckless disregard for the truth. Krikorian
counters that several of Schmidt's ethics allegations were dropped at
the hearing for lack of evidence, and that the OEC action would not
have been pursued would it not have been for the influence of the TAC
and TALDF.
Pfaff said Schmidt is currently focused on important legislative
issues before congress breaks, and will be turning her attention to
the November election.
Schmidt handily defeated three contenders in the March Primary
election and faces Democrat Surya Yalamanchili in the Nov. 2 general
election.
Krikorian was a candidate in the Democrat primary for the seat. He
says his loss to Yalamanchili was due to a last minute attack he
believes was coordinated by Schmidt and leaders of some local
Democratic clubs.
In the final week of the primary, Krikorian was accused of making
insensitive remarks about Yalamanchili's name while speaking at a VFW
Hall in Clermont County. He denies making the statement, pointing to
his own unusual surname as evidence that "I would never make an issue
of somebody's last name."
If an ethics investigation against Schmidt is approved, the process
could take up to a year or more to complete, Krikorian said. He added
that there is a blackout period for 75 days surrounding the general
election pertaining to ethics complaints.
If Schmidt does not win the general election this year, the
investigation will be moot.
http://newsdemocrat.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=131393
From: A. Papazian
July 31 2010
Schmidt-Krikorian battle heating up again
Political dispute between Congresswoman and former foe continues
By MICHAEL ARTHUR
Associate editor
The ongoing discord between Second District Congresswoman Jean Schmidt
and former candidate David Krikorian has heated up in recent weeks.
Schmidt has announced her plans to establish a Legal Defense Fund
related to a civil lawsuit filed against Krikorian in Clermont County,
while Krikorian has asked the Office of Congressional Ethics to launch
an official investigation into what he believes to be hundreds of
thousands of dollars in legal services that he says Schmidt improperly
accepted and failed to disclose.
The new developments mark the latest chapters in an ongoing feud
between Schmidt and Krikorian that dates back at least two elections
cycles, and both developments have ties to an Ohio Elections
Commission investigation of Krikorian that was initiated in 2009 at
Schmidt's request.
In the lawsuit filed in July in Clermont County Court of Common Pleas,
Schmidt contends that Krikorian wrongly and unfairly accused her of
accepting money from Turkish-American lobbying interests in exchange
for her denial of the "Armenian Genocide," when more than 1 million
Christian Armenians were killed by Muslim Turks in the early 1900s.
In his request for an official congressional ethics investigation,
Krikorian accuses Schmidt of accepting legal services valued at
several hundred thousand dollars from Turkish-American lobbying
interests during hearings held by the Ohio Elections Commission and
three other legal actions. Krikorian says Schmidt not only accepted
the services without obtaining permission from the House Ethics
Committee, as is required for high-value contributions to candidates,
but also that she failed to include her acceptance of the services on
mandatory financial disclosure documents.
Krikorian is hoping the House Ethics Committee will investigate and
admonish Schmidt and force her to repay the Turkish American Coalition
for the legal services its attorneys and central members provider her.
Schmidt is asking the court for $6.8 million in damages in the
defamation suit against Krikorian in which she claims he made
knowingly false statements about her.
Although Ohio's Second Congressional District has a relatively small
amount of Armenian-American or Turkish-American populations, Armenian
and Turkish issues have been at the forefront of the dispute between
Krikorian and Schmidt.
Krikorian is of Armenian decent and said grandparents on both sides of
his family are Armenian Genocide Providers. In his request for an
investigator, Krikorian claims that Schmidt's legal fees and expenses
in the OEC action against him were provided by at least two attorneys
who are instrumental members of the Turkish-American Coalition and the
Turkish American Legal defense Fund.
Those organizations, the TCA and the TALDF, are strong advocates for
advancing the positions of the Turkish government, including opposing
the Armenian Genocide Resolution, Krikorian said.
"I believe the total fees and expenses associated with the OEC Action
exceeded $200,000 and may have ranged up to $500,000," Krikorian said
in letters to David Skaggs and Porter J. Goss, co-chairmen of the
Office of Congressional Ethics.
Krikorian said that, for a congressional representative to accept
gifts greater than $350, special permission from the House Ethics
Committee is required. Additionally, he said that a special "waiver of
disclosure" is required for a congressional representative to omit
such gifts from disclosure statements.
Although special permission from the House Ethics Commission is not
necessarily made public, Krikorian said he sincerely doubts that the
Ethics Committee approved of such a large gift from a lobbying group.
He additionally said that disclosure waivers are also kept secret,
although he said House rules require that the actual request be made
public, citing House Rule 25, clause 5 that states: "a request for
waiver of the disclosure requirement is required by law to be made
publicly available."
Krikorian added that depositions of former Chief of Staff Barry
Bennett show that special permission for the gifts was not sought by
or provided to Schmidt.
Schmidt's camp, on the other hand, contends that the congresswoman has
not ethically compromised herself. In a telephone interview with The
News Democrat, Bruce Pfaff said Schmidt and her legal team have
consulted with the appropriate ethical watchdog agencies, including
the House Ethics Committee, as the appropriate course regarding the
legal actions.
In fact, the Legal defense Fund Schmidt is creating requires approval
of the House Ethics Committee to be established.
Pfaff noted that the Legal Defense Fund will accept contributions only
from American individuals and organizations, and not from foreign
entities. Contributions to the fund will be limited to $5,000 per
person.
Krikorian said he believes Schmidt only initiated the Legal Defense
Fund after she got word of his plans to request an ethics
investigation. He thinks she will try to use the fund to retroactively
pay for the services of the TAC lawyers in an attempt to avoid the
ethical conflict.
In the civil suit Schmidt goes after assertions made by Krikorian
during the 2008 election, including his claim that she accepted "blood
money" from Turkish interests.
Krikorian said he still stands behind that characterization of
Schmidt's involvement with Turkish interests.
"It was just my choice of words," said Krikorian. "I feel that is what it is."
Pfaff notes that Krikorian was found by the OEC to have knowingly made
false statements with reckless disregard for the truth. Krikorian
counters that several of Schmidt's ethics allegations were dropped at
the hearing for lack of evidence, and that the OEC action would not
have been pursued would it not have been for the influence of the TAC
and TALDF.
Pfaff said Schmidt is currently focused on important legislative
issues before congress breaks, and will be turning her attention to
the November election.
Schmidt handily defeated three contenders in the March Primary
election and faces Democrat Surya Yalamanchili in the Nov. 2 general
election.
Krikorian was a candidate in the Democrat primary for the seat. He
says his loss to Yalamanchili was due to a last minute attack he
believes was coordinated by Schmidt and leaders of some local
Democratic clubs.
In the final week of the primary, Krikorian was accused of making
insensitive remarks about Yalamanchili's name while speaking at a VFW
Hall in Clermont County. He denies making the statement, pointing to
his own unusual surname as evidence that "I would never make an issue
of somebody's last name."
If an ethics investigation against Schmidt is approved, the process
could take up to a year or more to complete, Krikorian said. He added
that there is a blackout period for 75 days surrounding the general
election pertaining to ethics complaints.
If Schmidt does not win the general election this year, the
investigation will be moot.
http://newsdemocrat.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=131393
From: A. Papazian