Former Senator Scott Brown's Staff Sends Larry Lessig A Letter Demanding He Stop Referring To Brown As A 'Lobbyist'

Politics

from the stop-using-the-truth-to-smear-our-candidate! dept

Mon, Sep 8th 2014 7:52am — Tim Cushing

Larry Lessig's new SuperPAC must be making a few people in Washington nervous. That's the only thing that could explain former Sen. Scott Brown's office sending a little hate mail demanding an apology for calling the former politician a "lobbyist." [PDF link]

Sent by Colin Reed, the campaign manager for New Hampshire for Scott Brown, the letter opens this way and doesn't let up.

Your MAYDAY Super PAC has issued a piece of mail to New Hampshire voters falsely calling Scott Brown a 'Washington lobbyist.' This is a flat-out lie.

Scott Brown is not nor has he ever been a lobbyist. Ever. We call on you to immediately cease and desist with the mailer in question, and to use one of your various media appearances as a purported authority on ethics to retract your falsehood.

As Lessig points out, Brown not being a lobbyist largely depends on what a normal person would think a lobbyist is. He quotes The Hill, which details Brown's post-Senate employment.

I take it Mr. Reed’s outrage is triggered by the Senate’s regulations of what constitutes being a “lobbyist” for purposes of the Senate rules. I hadn’t received the memo that explained that the English language is now regulated by the rules of the United States Senate. If there is such a memo, they should send it to The Hill too. Here are a few snippets of what they reported last March:

Brown has joined Nixon Peabody, a law and lobby firm, as counsel in the firm’s Boston office. The Massachusetts Republican, also a former state senator, will concentrate his practice on “business and governmental affairs as they relate to the financial services industry as well as on commercial real estate matters,” according to the firm.

Nixon Peabody has a burgeoning K Street practice, having made more than $1.5 million in lobbying fees for all of 2012, according to the Center for Responsive Politics...

So yes, according to the Senate, Scott Brown isn’t a “lobbyist.” But I submit to anyone else in the world, a former Senator joining a “law and lobbying firm” to help with Wall St’s “business and governmental affairs” is to make him a lobbyist. Because to anyone else in the world, when you sell your influence to affect “business and governmental affairs,” you are a lobbyist.

Other news sources agree. Brown now holds the position of "counsel" in a lobbying firm. This may not exactly make him a lobbyist but it certainly makes him more lobbyist than "counsel." The only thing likely preventing Brown from retaining the title of 'lobbyist' are rules meant to keep this sort of revolving-door behavior from being so blatant and prevalent.

The Boston Globe noted Monday that while Brown himself will not be a lobbyist — Senators may not lobby their former colleagues for the first two years after leaving office, under the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 — “he will be leaning heavily on his Washington contacts to drum up business for the firm.” The position will also allow him “to begin cashing in on his contacts with the financial services industry, which he helped oversee in the Senate.”

So, not technically a lobbyist but as close to a lobbyist as one can get. The overblown letter also calls into question Lessig's "Harvard code of conduct" and hilariously refers to the Mayday SuperPAC's letter as evidence of Lessig's "partisan political agenda" -- apparently unaware of the fact that Lessig is backing a Republican candidate against Brown in the upcoming New Hampshire election.

The letter wraps up with the following threat:

If you fail to immediately cease the mailer in question, we are leaving all our legal options on the table.

Lessig has responded to this angry letter in three ways, all of which suggest a dearth of respect for Scott Brown or his purported legal representation. First, there's the last line of his blog post about the letter:

And finally, as for those “legal options” that Mr. Reed says he’s “leaving on the table,” let me offer the words of Harry Callahan: “Go ahead. Make my day.”

And this tweet.

Yea, an institution that calls ketchup a vegetable doesn't get to tell me how to speak English. http://t.co/mjBTc4bNP0
— Lessig (@lessig) September 7, 2014

If you can't read the tweet, it says:

Yea, an institution that calls ketchup a vegetable doesn't get to tell me how to speak English.

And, finally, Lessig did, in fact, change Mayday's ad as follows. The top one is the original ad, the bottom one is the "new" ad:

Someone set the "table." I'll make popcorn.

9 7 14 Brown Campaign Letter to Lawrence Lessig (PDF)9 7 14 Brown Campaign Letter to Lawrence Lessig (Text)

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Filed Under: influence, jim rubens, larry lessig, lobbying, lobbyist, money in politics, scott brown
Companies: mayday pac

35 Comments

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Sneeje (profile), 8 Sep 2014 @ 6:54am

I hope that isn't the actual ad because...
it desperately needs an editor.

"Former MA Senator who sold his influence a DC lobbying firm"
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Jeff (profile), 8 Sep 2014 @ 7:16am

Good for L.L.
I hope he continues to make them all really nervous! Great work - keep it up!
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BentFranklin (profile), 8 Sep 2014 @ 8:02am

Re: I hope that isn't the actual ad because...
That's the danger of "I'll just make one small change so it doesn't need a second pair of eyes."
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Sep 2014 @ 8:04am

Re: Re: I hope that isn't the actual ad because...
Yep, work in I.T. this will be just a small change...

Bickity motherfraking BAM!!! there goes the infrastructure... shit is now broken left and right!
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Sep 2014 @ 8:16am

I'm a not a bank robber , I just drive the getaway car and supply the guns.
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pegr, 8 Sep 2014 @ 8:32am

Did he really thing that?
Is Scott Brown really so stupid that he thinks he can throw down with Larry Lessig and be better for the experience?

Just for my own personal amusement, I hope he pushes this forward. Oh, please, oh please, oh PLEASE!

(Hey Scott Brown! I know that political hubris can blind folks, but you REALLY don't want to do this. STOP DIGGING!)
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Richard (profile), 8 Sep 2014 @ 8:32am

Duck
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Michael, 8 Sep 2014 @ 8:35am

The only thing likely preventing Brown from retaining the title of 'lobbyist' are rules meant to keep this sort of revolving-door behavior from being so blatant and prevalent.

That's not true, his ethics as a politician and as a lawyer are also preventing him from being a lobbyist.
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Sneeje (profile), 8 Sep 2014 @ 8:51am

Re: Re: Re: I hope that isn't the actual ad because...
Yeah, strict configuration control is for losers... ;)
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Pat, 8 Sep 2014 @ 9:00am

OK
I think it's perfectly fine to stop calling him a lobbyist.
I think we should replace that with "scum sucking asswipe" as much as possible instead.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Sep 2014 @ 9:01am

Maybe we need to come up with another name for government officials who pass through the "revolving door" and take an unusually high-paying job with a private company that is seeking something from the government, or in some cases start their own D.C.-area "consulting" firm whose clients are either directly or indirectly seeking something from the government.

Otherwise we'd just have another word-game to play more complex than nailing down the definition of email.

But better yet, let's just ban it all, and require former government officials to leave Washington entirely and go back to where ever they came from before they joined the government (unless it was a 'lobbying' job). That includes jobs working for "think tanks" and other back-door lobbies. It's a simple solution, but probably one much harder to achieve than balancing the budget.
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Michael, 8 Sep 2014 @ 9:04am

Re:
Maybe we need to come up with another name for government officials who pass through the "revolving door"

How about "politician"?
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Doug (profile), 8 Sep 2014 @ 9:04am

Re: I hope that isn't the actual ad because...
Fixed long ago (in internet time). The TechDirt post used the old image. See http://t.co/OUFLQySAA2.
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John Fenderson (profile), 8 Sep 2014 @ 9:18am

Language abuse
Let's see...

It's not "torture," it's "enhanced interrogation techniques"
It's not "corporate interests" or the interests of the wealthy, it's "American interests"
It was Snowden's act of leaking that caused damage, not the behavior the leaks revealed
It's not "terrorism" when done by people we like, it's "asymmetric warfare"
It's not "sewage", it's "biosolids"
It's not "state execution", it's "capital punishment"
It's not the death of innocent people, it's "collateral damage"
It's not "propaganda", it's "communication"
It's not the "war department", it's the "department of defense"

...and so on

Don't let the government define the words being used. Scott Brown is a lobbyist no matter what the rules say he is.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Sep 2014 @ 9:48am

Don't Get Your Feathers Ruffled
"I am not a lobbyist." quacked Scott Brown.
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Mike Masnick (profile), 8 Sep 2014 @ 9:50am

Re: I hope that isn't the actual ad because...
Looks like Lessig updated it with the proper grammar. I've replaced the image.
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DogBreath, 8 Sep 2014 @ 9:57am

Re:
We already have paralegals, How about "paralobbyist"?
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Bill Silverstein (profile), 8 Sep 2014 @ 10:06am

Lessig is running scared.
We all know that Lessig is scared of these threats. Lessig will take out a full page advertisement apologizing for the lobbyist reference and beg Brown not to bring any legal action against him.

I would say more, but I have to run out for popcorn.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Sep 2014 @ 10:09am

it must be real nice to be in the position of being able to stand up to people like Scott Brown and his 'helpers'. even if Lassig were to lose a court battle, he would still win with the people. us mere mortals get no choice but to crawl back into our shells before some industry ass hole takes everything we ever worked for, even when we have spoken the truth!!
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DannyB (profile), 8 Sep 2014 @ 10:22am

Maybe we should call it what it is
Maybe Mr. Brown would prefer we stop using the euphemism "Lobbyist" and call it what it really is:

Corruption.
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Paul Alan Levy (profile), 8 Sep 2014 @ 10:22am

Is he going to emulate to Winklevoss twins?
His demand letter says nothing about defamation, only about Harvard's code of ethics. So maybe what he plans to do is initiate a proceeding for breach of the code of ethics
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Sep 2014 @ 10:25am

Re:
And Pluto is a planet since ethically recalling a definition is wrong. Ethics doesn't exist in the legalese universe, it is "right makes might". Politicians just don't seem to be able to avoid the moral creep and responsibilities to "shareholders".

When it comes to definitions he should know as a lawyer that the official legal definitions matter more than technicalities and as a politician he should know that threats of lawsuits usually makes its way around the media, making him look bad.
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John Fenderson (profile), 8 Sep 2014 @ 10:35am

Re: Maybe we should call it what it is
Would that make him a "corruptivist"? I can roll with that.
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Michael, 8 Sep 2014 @ 10:47am

Re: Re:
Isn't that just 2 lobbyists?

I do, however, like the sound of anything that could legitimize throwing them out of an airplane.
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Michael, 8 Sep 2014 @ 10:50am

Re: Is he going to emulate to Winklevoss twins?
An attorney and former politician walks into a bar and says "you have breached a code of ethics"...

I don't think this even needs a punchline.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Sep 2014 @ 11:44am

he could have doubled his damage and changed all 3 bullet items to something new and remailed it.
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letherial (profile), 8 Sep 2014 @ 11:52am

Ahh yes, the kettle calling the pot black...great one
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Jeremy Lyman (profile), 8 Sep 2014 @ 12:29pm

Maybe we should just start calling politicians pre-lobbyists.
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sorrykb (profile), 8 Sep 2014 @ 1:34pm

"Harvard code of conduct"?
Which part of the "Harvard code of conduct" is Colin Reed alleging that Professor Lessig has violated? I'd really like to know.

P.S. A person who embraces the Senate's distorted definition of "lobbyist" has no business lecturing anyone about the "search for truth and knowledge". Legally, it might be correct. But it's certainly not truthful.
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Mike Masnick (profile), 8 Sep 2014 @ 3:09pm

Re: "Harvard code of conduct"?
Which part of the "Harvard code of conduct" is Colin Reed alleging that Professor Lessig has violated? I'd really like to know.

Especially since Lessig is the director of Harvard's "Center for Ethics"...
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sorrykb (profile), 8 Sep 2014 @ 3:48pm

Re:
Jeremy Lyman wrote:
Maybe we should just start calling politicians pre-lobbyists.

I like that idea. Kind of like maggots to flies. Although that's a bit rude to the flies.
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Danny (profile), 8 Sep 2014 @ 6:51pm

World's second oldest profession?
So Scott Brown can't legally lobby. But he can use his connections to drum up lobbying business for Nixon Peabody.

So that means he is pimping lobbyists.

Perhaps it will clarify things if Lessig explains it this way.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Sep 2014 @ 10:11pm

Ok lobbyist, ugly word, "Bribe Maker" is much more accurate anyway, and it goes with "Bribe Taker". So yes he is not a Lobbyist.
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Whatever (profile), 9 Sep 2014 @ 12:42am

Re:
Maybe we need to come up with another name for government officials who pass through the "revolving door"

Most of us refer to them as human.
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Киушкин Евгений Иванович, 16 Nov 2014 @ 10:03am

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