Post by Hooligan on Jul 23, 2014 18:48:22 GMT -6
I decided to do this in Q&A form, believing the honourable thing to do is to lay this all out publicly and let the chips fall where they may. Yes, I picked my own questions for the Q&A, but I hope they're not softballs, and I hope I answer them directly and unequivocally with yesses and noes. I'll also try to be available to field any others people may have, though not immediately; it's been a long long day for me in many ways, and I'll speak with you all on the morrow.
Starting from the beginning....
Q: Was I informed by Tim Asmourescu of suspicions he had that false accounts were being used on Witt? A: Yes.
Q: Did I enable him and others to investigate these claims, as I was unable to do the investigation myself? A: Yes.
Q: Did I agree with the request Tim made of me that he remain an anonymous tipster, and did I agree that he had the right to make this request of me and that I should feel duty-bound by my promise to protect his anonymity? A: Yes.
Q: Did I collude with Tim to protect that anonymity from persons who may have insisted that Tim recuse himself from any court proceeding that might arise (should one do so)? A: Yes.
Q: Did I do so with the expressed and stated intentions that this would help to preserve Tim’s ability to serve on the court? A: Yes.
Q: Did I believe that Tim’s decision to recuse should be deferred until such time as a case was brought, and that he should wait until that time to decide whether he needs to recuse himself or not? A: Yes.
Q: Did I believe that there were sound reasons that would have allowed Tim to sit the case despite his being the original informant, those being the fact that it could be that all evidence presented in the case came exclusively from sources other than himself? A: Yes.
Q: Were my actions politically motivated? A: Yes, to the extent that I was concerned for the integrity of the political system, that what I was learning of might be an attack upon it and my own party.
Q: Was I also protecting Tim’s right to decide to recuse until later on the practical basis that at the time, Justices were nowhere to be found and if there was any reason Tim COULD sit the case, he should? A: Yes.
Q: Do my communications on these points make me look sneaky and expose me as hiding truths from my King and friend (in order to preserve requested anonymity)? A: Yes.
Q: Am I sorry for having agreed to help Tim preserve his anonymity, the way things turned out? A: Yes.
Q: Did you ever tell the King it was Tim as the original source? A: Yes. I recall that at the conclusion of the affair, I told the King that despite Tim's wish to remain anonymous, I felt that there was risk others would receive awards or honours for the good that had occurred as a result of Tim's efforts. So I did tell the King, in camera, that credit should not be laid at an improper doorstep, and that Justice Asmourescu was the source of the original intelligence. Since he, Tim, no longer wishes to remain anonymous, I have no need to keep that secret anymore, so now I'm also telling the world.
Q: Had the case gone to court, would I have exposed Tim’s role as the original informant? A: Not without his consent, no; however, the transcripts leaked show that he himself indicated his intent to recuse and it was I who said he may not need to do so, that he should wait to decide. His recusal was always his own decision and my advice was only to decide whether his involvement in the case presented required it or not.
Q: Had Tim’s involvement in the case evidence been such that it was of his own hand, gathered by himself and not independently by others, would I have recommended that Tim recuse, had he asked me at that time? A: Yes.
Q: Is recusal from a case a legal requirement in any way? A: No, should a judge or justice feel that he can judge a case impartially, he is under no obligation to recuse himself, and there is no law, Talossan or otherwise, that would have mandated Tim's recusal. No case was ever presented, so Tim was under no obligation to determine on his recusal, and any discussion of it was premature.
A: But is it unethical not to recuse yourself from a case that you cannot judge impartially? A: Yes, and if Tim felt that was the case after seeing the evidence, for whatever reason (either his own involvement as the genesis of that evidence or any conclusion he may have come to), he would have been acting unethically to sit the case, and I would have counselled him that way (although he should not need my counsel if he's a good justice).
Q: Do you feel, or did you feel at the time, that your actions were intentionally biasing a future court against any (then unknown) defendant? A: No, never once. I never advised Tim to sit the case if he felt he could not judge it impartially, only that he should determine upon his impartiality when the case came to trial and he saw the evidentiary sources that might be presented by the Crown, and not before.
Q: You are seen saying, "Don't recuse if your name stays out of it". Can you explain why this statement is justified? A: Yes. Again, at the time that statement was made, no one knew whether there would be a case, who it would be filed against, or what evidence might be included for consideration. Tim's name might very well have been nowhere in the presented evidence, if indeed all evidence was gathered completely independently, by others, and thus constituted only evidence that he could judge without bias on its individual merit. Given this, if and only if that was the case, I believed he should not feel it necessary to recuse himself.
Q: Do you feel, or did you feel at the time, that in your actions during the course of the investigation into criminal activity by a Talossan citizen, that you, yourself, were committing any crime or acting to subvert any future action of a Talossan court? A: No. I honestly felt that Tim could potentially sit the case, for at that point, we knew not exactly what shape the case would take, and awareness of the existence and nature of evidence to be presented to the judiciary before a trial begins is nothing that any judge in the world should necessarily recuse himself for having.
Q: Do you feel bad about any of this now? A: Yes. I feel worst that in keeping Tim's request to be anonymous, I kept truths from my King and friends. I also feel badly that private conversations that might tend to make people with whom I converse look to be worse people than we all know them to be due to expressions made for political purposes have been exposed for all to see because apparently Tim now thinks he was doing something wrong and that I therefore was too, and thus wants to get what he felt as being improper behavior off his chest.
Q: Sure you feel bad now, but did you feel bad as you did these things? A: No. I honestly felt that I was preserving a request for anonymity and preserving the bench's integrity by advising a justice to see a case presented before deciding if he can or cannot judge it impartially.
Q: How do you feel about Tim now? A: Pretty much the same way I'm sure everyone does, and I'm thinking not just RUMPers. That said, I really like the guy, I consider him a friend, I hope to talk to him on GoogleTalk about things Talossa and things non-Talossa. I know most people don't look at it this way, and many have feelings that have been hurt by his betrayals of trust, but I look at what he has been doing lately as somewhat entertaining. If others choose to look at it as indictments of own personal character, I cannot control that, and I will take my lumps privately and publicly, standing on the answers I gave above concerning my conduct, past and present.
Hoping that all might still consider me a friend, for I truly consider all Talossans my friends, I am,
Tu citaxhien fuliens,
Hooligan
Starting from the beginning....
Q: Was I informed by Tim Asmourescu of suspicions he had that false accounts were being used on Witt? A: Yes.
Q: Did I enable him and others to investigate these claims, as I was unable to do the investigation myself? A: Yes.
Q: Did I agree with the request Tim made of me that he remain an anonymous tipster, and did I agree that he had the right to make this request of me and that I should feel duty-bound by my promise to protect his anonymity? A: Yes.
Q: Did I collude with Tim to protect that anonymity from persons who may have insisted that Tim recuse himself from any court proceeding that might arise (should one do so)? A: Yes.
Q: Did I do so with the expressed and stated intentions that this would help to preserve Tim’s ability to serve on the court? A: Yes.
Q: Did I believe that Tim’s decision to recuse should be deferred until such time as a case was brought, and that he should wait until that time to decide whether he needs to recuse himself or not? A: Yes.
Q: Did I believe that there were sound reasons that would have allowed Tim to sit the case despite his being the original informant, those being the fact that it could be that all evidence presented in the case came exclusively from sources other than himself? A: Yes.
Q: Were my actions politically motivated? A: Yes, to the extent that I was concerned for the integrity of the political system, that what I was learning of might be an attack upon it and my own party.
Q: Was I also protecting Tim’s right to decide to recuse until later on the practical basis that at the time, Justices were nowhere to be found and if there was any reason Tim COULD sit the case, he should? A: Yes.
Q: Do my communications on these points make me look sneaky and expose me as hiding truths from my King and friend (in order to preserve requested anonymity)? A: Yes.
Q: Am I sorry for having agreed to help Tim preserve his anonymity, the way things turned out? A: Yes.
Q: Did you ever tell the King it was Tim as the original source? A: Yes. I recall that at the conclusion of the affair, I told the King that despite Tim's wish to remain anonymous, I felt that there was risk others would receive awards or honours for the good that had occurred as a result of Tim's efforts. So I did tell the King, in camera, that credit should not be laid at an improper doorstep, and that Justice Asmourescu was the source of the original intelligence. Since he, Tim, no longer wishes to remain anonymous, I have no need to keep that secret anymore, so now I'm also telling the world.
Q: Had the case gone to court, would I have exposed Tim’s role as the original informant? A: Not without his consent, no; however, the transcripts leaked show that he himself indicated his intent to recuse and it was I who said he may not need to do so, that he should wait to decide. His recusal was always his own decision and my advice was only to decide whether his involvement in the case presented required it or not.
Q: Had Tim’s involvement in the case evidence been such that it was of his own hand, gathered by himself and not independently by others, would I have recommended that Tim recuse, had he asked me at that time? A: Yes.
Q: Is recusal from a case a legal requirement in any way? A: No, should a judge or justice feel that he can judge a case impartially, he is under no obligation to recuse himself, and there is no law, Talossan or otherwise, that would have mandated Tim's recusal. No case was ever presented, so Tim was under no obligation to determine on his recusal, and any discussion of it was premature.
A: But is it unethical not to recuse yourself from a case that you cannot judge impartially? A: Yes, and if Tim felt that was the case after seeing the evidence, for whatever reason (either his own involvement as the genesis of that evidence or any conclusion he may have come to), he would have been acting unethically to sit the case, and I would have counselled him that way (although he should not need my counsel if he's a good justice).
Q: Do you feel, or did you feel at the time, that your actions were intentionally biasing a future court against any (then unknown) defendant? A: No, never once. I never advised Tim to sit the case if he felt he could not judge it impartially, only that he should determine upon his impartiality when the case came to trial and he saw the evidentiary sources that might be presented by the Crown, and not before.
Q: You are seen saying, "Don't recuse if your name stays out of it". Can you explain why this statement is justified? A: Yes. Again, at the time that statement was made, no one knew whether there would be a case, who it would be filed against, or what evidence might be included for consideration. Tim's name might very well have been nowhere in the presented evidence, if indeed all evidence was gathered completely independently, by others, and thus constituted only evidence that he could judge without bias on its individual merit. Given this, if and only if that was the case, I believed he should not feel it necessary to recuse himself.
Q: Do you feel, or did you feel at the time, that in your actions during the course of the investigation into criminal activity by a Talossan citizen, that you, yourself, were committing any crime or acting to subvert any future action of a Talossan court? A: No. I honestly felt that Tim could potentially sit the case, for at that point, we knew not exactly what shape the case would take, and awareness of the existence and nature of evidence to be presented to the judiciary before a trial begins is nothing that any judge in the world should necessarily recuse himself for having.
Q: Do you feel bad about any of this now? A: Yes. I feel worst that in keeping Tim's request to be anonymous, I kept truths from my King and friends. I also feel badly that private conversations that might tend to make people with whom I converse look to be worse people than we all know them to be due to expressions made for political purposes have been exposed for all to see because apparently Tim now thinks he was doing something wrong and that I therefore was too, and thus wants to get what he felt as being improper behavior off his chest.
Q: Sure you feel bad now, but did you feel bad as you did these things? A: No. I honestly felt that I was preserving a request for anonymity and preserving the bench's integrity by advising a justice to see a case presented before deciding if he can or cannot judge it impartially.
Q: How do you feel about Tim now? A: Pretty much the same way I'm sure everyone does, and I'm thinking not just RUMPers. That said, I really like the guy, I consider him a friend, I hope to talk to him on GoogleTalk about things Talossa and things non-Talossa. I know most people don't look at it this way, and many have feelings that have been hurt by his betrayals of trust, but I look at what he has been doing lately as somewhat entertaining. If others choose to look at it as indictments of own personal character, I cannot control that, and I will take my lumps privately and publicly, standing on the answers I gave above concerning my conduct, past and present.
Hoping that all might still consider me a friend, for I truly consider all Talossans my friends, I am,
Tu citaxhien fuliens,
Hooligan
