Dear Friends of FTW:

To a hammer everything is a nail. And the nail that is Michael C. Ruppert has been hammered unfairly and relentlessly by BOLI for more than three years, culminating in an administrative judgment that patently violates all notions of fair play and equal justice.

I am Mike's attorney for the appeal, and I want to share some perspective on this case. If you've read the decision against Mike, your opinion of Mike may have been tarnished, but please know that the process and the decision itself are obviously biased. The Final Order in this case is replete with factual and legal errors. Worse, there is no question in my mind that key events in this case -- especially public announcements -- were timed to do the most personal harm to Mike Ruppert.

The Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) hearing the case severely undermined Mike's defense by making a number of bizarre and bad evidentiary rulings. The A.L.J. did not include any of Mike's exculpatory or impeachment evidence in the Proposed Order. In fact, the A.L.J. elected to repeat and print in the Order sent to the press only those statements and evidence from Mike that could be interpreted as helping to support the complainant's case.

Mike is correct when he argues that no investigation of these allegations is complete until it examines the burglary and smashing of FTW's computers in June, 2006. A horribly flawed police report was improperly leaked to the Ashland Daily Tidings (as admitted by Ashland police), and a malicious smear campaign by the Tidings Editor and a reporter was admitted as evidence against Mike in the present case. That editor (Andrew Scot Bolsinger) is now in prison for sex abuse of a minor and is suspected in several major felony fraud cases against Ashland businesses (should he be considered "credible"?). Even though BOLI's case presenter introduced these libelous Daily Tidings stories as evidence against Mike, BOLI completely disregards Mike's evidence related to these issues and pretends as if these events never existed in its Final Order.

Then there are the manner and timing with which this Final Order was handed down. The BOLI Commissioner arrogantly stated to the press that, "Sexual harassment of this magnitude is a brazen violation of the law and the damages ordered here will clearly show BOLI's commitment to aggressively enforcing the law." Really? Is he serious?

The worst fact against Mike in this entire case is that Mike appeared un-aroused in his underwear in the complainant's sight for approximately 10 seconds. Is that so brazen as to justify an award for emotional damages amounting to five years worth of the complainant's salary at the time? The amount of emotional damages awarded in this case is three times higher than the largest emotional damages award for sexual harassment EVER made by BOLI (as published on BOLI's website) yet there was no touching, no sex, and the complainant only worked for FTW for three months.

The State Commissioner issued his Final Order without ever laying his eyes on a witness, and there is no indication that he even listened to the tape recordings of the hearing or otherwise evaluated Mike's exculpatory evidence. In fact, the BOLI Commissioner was arrogant enough to admit as much to the Medford Mail-Tribune on September 25, 2009, when "Avakian said he rendered his decision based on an 84-page legal assessment of the case given to him by an administrative law judge who heard the case."

How can a respondent have a fair "day in court" when the ultimate judge of the facts and law has not even seen a single witness testify and has not fully evaluated all of the evidence produced?

BOLI Commissioner Brad Avakian went on to incorrectly tell the Mail-Tribune that "BOLI intends to pursue the case against Ruppert wherever he is and get (the complainant) "every penny we can collect."" Avakian added, "We have the ability to keep these judgments up to 10 years, and then can go another 10 years," and "That can go on forever." Never mind the fact the by the terms of the very order the Commissioner signed, Mike Ruppert is not personally responsible for one dime of the judgment against FTW, Inc. This incident fairly raises the question, though — does Avakian even thoroughly read the Orders he signs? Avakian went on to imply that Ruppert was a fugitive hiding in Venezuela, even though BOLI had just mailed the decision to Mike's home in Culver City, CA. Avakian also knew that Mike had just spent three days defending FTW in a BOLI hearing room in Medford.

To be clear, there is no judgment against Michael C. Ruppert. These inflammatory statements made by the Commissioner appear to us as meant only to unfairly hurt Mike's public image at a critical moment.

Although Avakian apologized and corrected some statements to the Mail-Tribune, the damage to Mike's reputation could not have come at a worse time. We cannot know what the intentions of the Commissioner were in the timing of the release of the Final Order or in regards to his press statements. What we do know for sure is that Mike's reputation was unfairly assaulted by an erroneous decision and by personal press attacks by the Commissioner at a time that actually caused the greatest possible harm to Mike and to his message — following wide critical acclaim for the movie "CoLLapse" while distribution talks were underway.

Mike's mission is and has been to try to help the human species save itself from imminent and certain peril. I view my job on this case as correcting the record and doing my best at restoring Mike's good name so that he can get that message out to as many people as possible. It's going to be a long and expensive fight, and we need your help to see it through. Please help us by donating to the FTW Legal Defense Fund.

(To be continued in Part II — Legal and Factual Errors, to be released on Monday, Oct. 19th. 2009).

Sincerely,
Wesley T. Miller
Attorney at Law
(Former Assistant District Attorney, Coos County, Oregon)

HOW TO DONATE

FTW needs funds to support this appeal. What is being defended here is the message in the film CoLLapse and in MikeÕs new book, "A Presidential Energy Policy". Please donate today!

International Wire Transfers — Please use the following routing numbers for donations from outside the U.S. Your bank should be able to provide conversion rates.

Account Name: From The Wilderness Legal Defense Fund
Bank: Wells Fargo
Routing Numbers: 121000248 — 3496610480

Checks can be made out and mailed to:

FTW Legal Defense Fund
c/o Rubiconworks
10736 Jefferson Bl. PMB 618
Culver City, CA 90232