unintimidated pac - letter to gotnews llc

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Chris Ashby's attempt to intimidate journalist Charles C. Johnson for reporting the rumors circulating around Scott Walker's Campaign Manager Rick Wiley on behalf of Keith Gilkes Executive Director, Unintimidated PAC.

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  • Paid for by Unintimidated PAC, Inc. Not authorized by any candidate or candidates committee. www.UnintimidatedPAC.com

    September 26, 2015

    Via E-Mail to [email protected] Got News LLC Post Office Box 3102 Clovis, California 93619 Attn: Charles C. Johnson, Editor in Chief

    Re: Cease, Desist, and Retract Dear Mr. Johnson: I represent Unintimidated PAC, Inc., and I write regarding a post you published on September 25, 2015 on GotNews.com. In the post, you allege that Unintimidated PAC was the originator of a rumor that is the subject of the post, and that one individual in particular pushed the rumor to the media. As the attached statement from Unintimidated PAC attests, the claims in your post regarding Unintimidated PAC and its agents are fabricated and completely false. On behalf of Unintimidated PAC and its agents, I demand that you remove the false claims from your post immediately, and add a retraction to the bottom of the post stating substantially as follows:

    A prior version of this post incorrectly stated that Unintimidated PAC was the source of the rumor at issue and pushed it to the media. GotNews.com apologizes to Unintimidated PAC and our readers for this error.

    I also demand that you cease and desist from any further republication of these false claims. It is telling that you did not even attempt to contact Unintimidated PAC prior to publishing the allegations in your post. Now, having been presented with Unintimidated PACs categorical, unqualified, on-the-record denial of the claims in your post, if you refuse to retract themor if you publish them againwe will conclude that you have done so intentionally, with knowledge of the falsity of the claims, motivated by a malicious intent to defame and injure Unintimidated PAC and its agents, and in particular any agent identified in the post.

  • Re: Cease, Desist and Retract September 26, 2015 Page 2 of 2 Lastly, I instruct you and Got News LLC to preserveand not destroyall e-mail messages, text messages, phone logs, notes and other records regarding, reflecting or relating in any way to the rumor that is the subject of your post and Unintimidated PACs alleged (but false) role in originating or pushing it. These materials may be necessary in future legal proceedings regarding this matter, and would be relevant to such issues as what investigation you made prior to publishing your post, and whether you even had any sources at all for the claims you made in it. Thank you for your immediate attention to this matter.

    Regards,

    Chris Ashby, Esq. General Counsel

    cc: Keith Gilkes Executive Director, Unintimidated PAC, Inc. ENCL.

  • STATEMENT OF KEITH GILKES EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, UNINTIMIDATED PAC, INC.

    I have reviewed a post authored by Charles C. Johnson, dated September 25, 2015, and published on GotNews.com. In it, Mr. Johnson alleges that Unintimidated PAC originated and pushed a rumor that is the subject of the post. There is not a shred of truth to those allegations. Neither Unintimidated PAC, nor any agent of Unintimidated PACincluding but not limited to the individual identified in the postoriginated, pushed or had any other involvement in or with the rumor.