_PCU_//\_Free Assembly Project____/
St.Louis MO • www.Free-Assembly.org
_//\__________________________an Association of Volunteers__/
September 2018 ~ AN INSIDE-OUT REPORT ~
The July 7 Sellout
~ ‘Rainbow Roadblock’ suit in Georgia wins a first-round
injunction, then goes down in dissonant dysfunction.
— scottie addison, Instigator & Scribe
_____________________________________________/
In the face of intensive interagency roadblocks, stops, searches, and prosecutions targeting the Rainbow Gathering in Chattahoochee N.F., ‘pcu•FAP’ went to work in late June — mustered lawyers, sources, docs, money & forces to land a timely lawsuit in Federal Court, N. District of Georgia.
Hadaway, Beck & Buxbaum v. Tooke … Case No. 2:18-cv-107-RWS
It all converged at an Atlanta law office on July 2… the next day the Court waived a hearing and issued an Injunction Order against the police harassment, a meaningful victory on July 3.
The July 3 Injunction (7/27/2018)
Yet within days parties at cross-purposes hatched a scheme to dump the case…
By July 7 the case was doomed, in a meeting I called then missed by deceit.
Despite earnest attempts at reason and urgent dissuasion over the following weeks, the lawsuit was dropped by voluntary dismissal, filed by the plaintiffs’ attorney on August 30:
6_NOTICE of Voluntary Dismissal Without Prejudice
The Court closed the case the following day. This was the stupidest possible outcome, giving Fed lawyers just what they hoped for and letting the LEO’s off the hook, again. Outrageous.
The story will be told in two different ways:
~ One narrative is the `public story` of the bootstraps effort to protect 1st Amendment exercise, alluding vaguely to unfortunate circumstances that made the case impossible to sustain.
~ The other is the `inside story` for close stakeholders in ‘Rainbow’ affairs, revealing cross-purposes of erstwhile allies, telling the truth and holding obtuse power-trips accountable.
By necessity, in clarity, this report is the latter kind.
_________________________________________
I.) The July 3 win was an auspicious start for this civil rights litigation. The early barrage of police harassment had scared off many people from attending the Gathering, and dispirited those who got through it… they were then inspired by the ‘Injunction’, however imperfect — and it elevated the vibe on the 4th of July. The Circle was strong, the Om was long, the prayers heartfelt and resolute.
Don Wirtshafter, John McCall & I spent the rest of that day collecting statements at Info, with the intent of using this documentation to build the case. We noted how folks were now coming forward in truthtelling, how much good info was coming in — the compelling facts, and the patterns of police misconduct we could now prove. We would work together to perfect this case… the 2 best Rainbow lawyers saw no legal reason to dump it anytime soon, and I agreed with them.
We had pulled off a guerilla-law coup, but it needed fast follow-up: The pleadings were rushed and rough, named the wrong defendant, had to be amended and properly served. I arranged a meeting at the attorney’s office on July 7, but It did not come off as planned: I agreed to pick up Principle at the back gate, but he lied and left me there waiting, took off the other way for Atlanta with Garrick Beck… so I was excluded from the tactical meeting I called on the case I created.
I heard no news until two days later when a call from Garrick somehow rung in the woods. It came as a brute shock when I was told they were going to drop the case on the lawyer’s doomsayings, the “5 reasons” he gave to shut it down… Garrick vaguely recalled 2, both flimsy, but he touted his new plan: “We can take this little win and use it next year” — as if launching another civil rights case somewhere else is like going bowling next week. He does no legal work, has no clue how hard this is to do… probably not a bowler either — other people have to pick up the ball and get things rolling.
It was crazy to start a good lawsuit, win the 1st round, then kill it in a few days… it was surreal that all the formative work & Ch’i of creating it could be kicked over in one gullible meeting.
II.) Four people were at that July 7 meeting in Atlanta, all greybeards… (Yup, 4 old dudes with actual grey beards, Including the host lawyer). With all those wise-guises in the room, you’d think they would come up with something smart…. no such luck. It was a failed process, worth examining in light of the foibles & fallacies of those present, and the broader public interests at stake.
In brief sum –– Water had the biggest beard… he came along with other business on his mind, and restively observed as the other 3 made untenable decisions on the ‘Hadaway’ case:
— Attorney Goldberg, peeved about pay… demanded $5000 to start the case, got half up-front, and was promised the rest in a few weeks when it was properly underway. But he got paranoid that he would get stiffed, and now raised the spectre of losing big in Georgia courts. Lawyers aren’t supposed to discredit a lawsuit and derail their own plaintiffs right after filing it… it was about money & bad math. So he broke the deal that would have paid him and left the pleadings in disorder.
— General Principle, up to old tricks… I kindly told him of the Georgia suit in-prep, so he flew there to make it ‘His Movie’ — déjà vu Arkansas ’07, jumping in front of ‘my’ lawyer and screwing things up. Even driving him to the site on 7/5, he got rude right away, then took docs from my folders, kept me out of this key meeting, assaulted me afterwards. HIs rumored idea of a roadblock case in Oregon won’t work – no matter, if he could run his sideways-games and wreck what I was doing.
— Garrick Beck, star of his own show… a Plaintiff only because he heard about the suit and got to the lawyer on 7/2. He stepped up for the fame but ducked the responsibility to walk the talk… knew nothing of the law & history of these issues, or the years of preparation for this case. So in an hour he gets schmoozed out of his shoes by a misgruntled lawyer who never went near a gathering. A simplistic glib opinion sounded savvy — and that was the finale of his matinee performance.
It’s also significant who was not there, foremost the other 2 plaintiffs:
— Adam Buxbaum wanted to be in Vision Council — a worthy dedication, but a misplaced priority in this moment… he naïvely gave his proxy to Garrick and abdicated his part in this decision.
— Brynan Hadaway either was not told of the meeting or refused to bother with it… she was alienated by the whole scene soon after filing, or maybe just fed up with manipulations by cranky old men.
And again, I was absent… otherwise things would have been much different.
Understand the role of Plaintiffs in a civil case, the duties & powers entailed: First as harmed parties they must bring relevant facts warranting legal remedies… then it’s their job to stand on them, and to authorize an attorney to represent their interests. They may also withdraw claims and stop the case if those interests would thus be better served — standard practice, they have this power.
However when their positions engage the civil rights of many other people, they have to get it right: such Plaintiffs cannot make careless decisions sacrificing the interests of stakeholders.
By the end of that meeting Garrick was convinced that we had to drop ‘Hadaway’, walk away from the Injunction, “take this little win” and raise these issues in some future case[s].
By default, he made this decision unilaterally as the only Plaintiff in the room… it was a sellout.
Despite entreaties and proof to the contrary, he stayed stuck on this bad idea.
III.) I hoped to patch things up with some focused discourse: On 7/11 I met with Goldberg, heard his logic and disagreed; he had no interest in correcting the filings, but didn’t mind if another lawyer stepped in. The next day I met with “J”, a civil attorney interested in pursuing ‘Rainbow’ claims, and proposed that he take on the ‘Hadaway’ case. I offered research, we ageed to cooperate on evidence, and would talk further on how to proceed… the options were on the table.
I then started an e-mail discussion with the plaintiffs & legal team, to offer an experienced analysis of our position and let other lawyers weigh in on the strategy. In an early exchange I tried to dislodge Garrick’s misconceptions in a gentlemanly way:
I noted that he was “way-swayed by 1 lawyer’s worst-case apprehensions” — a guy who got alot wrong in the filing & settlement, and was miffed over money — in a meeting that excluded me.
I urged him not to dig in his heels “on fragmentary info & fear”. Being in a tough judicial circuit is not cause to abandon civil rights claims, and nothing new: “We WON on these issues in western Missouri & central Florida… it’s not like the next venue will be Haight-Ashbury. We will have to surmount the same Rule 12(b) & ‘qualified immunity’ challenges anywhere we go.”
I disputed the alleged danger of going forward with ‘Hadaway’, and invoked the real benefits:::
We have an opportunity to build new pleadings now on the current momentum… there is no risk in sustaining it through discovery, and procedurally we can still drop it later and take a developed case into WI or MN proactively. This matters to me, because I’m the one who must do the real work…
Every Time.
Over the weeks into August, I followed with more detailed posts on the legal & tactical issues in this decision. “J” raised fair questions on the scope of ‘Hadaway’ and doubt about taking it on… I concurred that the pleadings had to be fixed, to align with precedents we won, and to extend them:
• Park v. Forest Service, 205 F.3d 1034 (8th Cir. 2000)
• Addison v. Forest Service, 108 F. Supp.2d 1365 (M.D.Fla. 2000)
I argued that this pure case for declaratory relief was a necessary move in that lineage, engaging the whole pattern of constitutional violations… it would reach broader policy remedies, and complement any future damage claims centered on particular incidents & compensable harms.
The discussion got deep into legal premises and logistical prospects, gave lots of reasons to stick with ‘Hadaway’ and use discovery to strengthen our position before next year’s gathering.
(See “Hadaway — the Hard Logic”… a good summary for wonks,
compiling points of analysis and debate through late August.)
Garrick had no answers, stonewalled the issues and held to his facile decision.
Then he piped up accusing me of “pestering” everyone on a settled matter, bullying and “Namecalling” to get my way. From there it devolved into a petulant victim game, attacking me for supposed insults that didn’t happen, and alleging some kind of disruptive court conduct in Wyoming 2008 – in a civil case that didn’t exist, at a time when I was nowhere near that state. How low.
So it came down to tantrums and lies to smear me, to evade any reckoning and get His way. A grown-up would be shamed, but this juvenile behavior served its purpose – making the whole situation stink so bad that no one wanted to know or get near it. Of course I finally got steamed and responded, ripped his vanity and Mobius logic, and told him to cut the “grandiloquent fatuous fawning for non-solutions” and uphold his commitment.
But of course it was already too late… the discussion was dead.
Two days later Goldberg filed the dismissal. Case closed.
IV.) The outcome in Georgia is a serious setback and a real bringdown:
20 years ago we made good declaratory law on roadblocks & targeted enforcement, but the Feds escaped a lasting injunction. Their only fear was our ability to bring compelling facts into a new civil action… it took a lot of vigilant work to set up a chance to do this, and we just blew it.
After stormy beginnings, 20 years of legal cahoots might have come to comradeship, but key alliances proved worthless. My strong track record and formative efforts for this case were disrespected and doublecrossed, then rational discourse failed and devolved into slander.
The rise & fall of the ‘Hadaway’ case is a “Rainbow fable” in the classic mold — about the Right to Gather and the need to fight to protect it and Win… and how hapless hipsters shoot themselves in the foot and contrive to Lose. This time we really snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
My stake in this is more than diligent… I originated this legal theory of ‘targeted speech’ and started the roadblock fights at Shawnee ’95, launched the good lawsuits in Missouri & Florida, worked in the trenches with lawyers on both, then kept on documenting abuses and helping victims ever since.
A few of us have been trying to prepare and get these issues back into court — most difficult when the next venue is unknown until cops are already kicking seed camp… It Ain’t No Disco.
The right situation arose in Georgia, the forces came together to file timely and build a definitive new civil action… Garrick Signed Up. It was not his call to renege and kill it.
He was a walk-on plaintiff in the case I set up, an ad hoc client of the lawyer I found and informed. A lot of forethought went into its legal substance & tactics, the positions and strategic impacts it achieves… he had no Concept of this real stuff, only the Conceit to force this fateful retreat by fiat, and trivialize what this work takes::: he has not done the research or devised arguments or built a real court case, never showed up when hassled kidz needed help, and next time he won’t be there again.
Then to cavalierly leave this fight to some future speculative case somewhere, vaguely down the road or riding possible retro claims in Georgia — it is blithely thoughtless of the tough logistics, and problems of legal standing in different kinds of claims. After ignoring solid reasons otherwise, ‘Hadaway’ got dumped anyway… this affronts basic precepts of legal practice and logic:
• A ‘future case’ is imaginary, not real, rulable or billable… nothing is done, it is = 0.
• 0 is not > 1… No Case is not > a Live Case asserting rights & leverage now.
_________________________________________
The gatherings have endured years of continuing police abuses… we have kicked the can down the road before — lots of dead cans behind us, and it kept happening. It’s senseless do this again now, after their all-out assault in Georgia… the collapse of the ‘Hadaway’ case is sending the LEO’s a clear message that they can get away with anything. So now it’s likely to get worse.
Then consider the expenditure of $2900 of funding from donors who supported this case to protect the Gatherings… this money was wasted, along with my costs and all of my time. I am accountable to people who trusted me to make it work; I think Garrick should pay them back.
It’s bad strategy to launch a good case then just scuttle it… bad kharma too: When opportunities to protect our rights are subverted by obsessive ‘Alpha-Male’ problems, it messes with the morale of the people, and the discooperation of elders sets a piss-poor example for the youngers.
When we somehow converged with the research, people, paperwork, money and will to materialize the July 3 Injunction, it was a little bit magical, and the gathering vibe tuned up.
Too bad it devolved into divisive dark sorcery, like the bad old days.
_sca__
_______________________________________________
founded__/ “People for Compassion and Understanding” \__ 1993