SOME NEW NEWS, TWISTS IN THE SCHMIDT V. KRIKORIAN (SIBEL EDMONDS-RELATED) ELECTION CASE IN OHIO
By Brad Friedman

Brad Blog

Aug 31 2009

A couple of quick updates, and a few notable developments in the status
of the Ohio Election Commission (OEC) case between the Republican
2nd-Distrtict U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt and her independent ’08 (and now,
Democratic ’10 ) challenger David Krikorian.

This is the case which resulted in the recent stunning deposition
of FBI translator-turned-whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, as Schmidt
has alleged "false statements" by Krikorian when he claimed that she
accepted "blood money" from the Turkish Lobby in exchange for opposing
a Congressional vote on the "Armenian Genocide" resolution. He says
her campaign received more money from that lobby than any other member
last year, after which she became the co-chair of the Congressional
Tukish Coalition. That, despite the paucity of any actual ethnic
Turks in her district.

Krikorian offered a few interesting status updates on the case to
The BRAD BLOG, late last week during a phone conversation…

â~@¢ A FEIN MESS: Schmidt’s attorney, Bruce Fein, who, as it came
out during the Edmonds deposition, happens to be a member of the
"Turkish Lobby" himself, as legal counsel for the Turkish American
Legal Defense Fund (TALDF) and for the Turkish Coalition of America
(TCA), and, as such, will now be deposed in the case himself. Krikorian
recently applied to the OEC for permission to depose Fein, and they
have now ruled in his favor and allowed a subpoena to be issued to him.

Fein was a former Reagan Administration official who became a bit of a
hero to Progressives over the last several years due to his outspoken
criticism of the Bush Administration. As an attorney, however, his
work during the deposition, in attempting to impeach the credibility
of Edmonds may be seen as, um, somewhat less than effective (and,
at times, even quite humorous, in our opinion).

Following the 8/8/09 Edmonds deposition, when asked by an Armenian
media outlet if he felt it might be a conflict of interest in
representing Schmidt, since he could be called to testify himself,
given his position in the Turkish Lobby, Fein didn’t believe he would
be called to testify, "because this case has nothing to do" with the
organizations he’s associated with. (Video here, Fein interviewed
beginning at appx the 5:30 mark.) However, if called, he said he’d
"testify under oath there is nothing that I did that even remotely
resembles….any insinuation that [Edmonds] made in regard to this
case."

Krikorian tells us he believes Fein is the "archtect of the entire
Turkish Lobby’s defense in the U.S. … The guy who travels the country
attacking anybody he can attack vis a vis the Armenian Genocide. … We
will now be able to take his testimony, which is highly unusual given
that he is the opposing counsel in the case."

â~@¢ SCHMIDT PLAYS SGT SCHULTZ: Jean Schmidt herself was recently
deposed in the matter, though, according to Krikorian, "she would not
agree to allowing a video tape of the deposition, unless an agreement
was made before hand to not release the video tape into the public
domain." The transcript of her deposition (which we haven’t yet had
time to review, but here’s Armenian Weekly’s coverage reporting that
Schmidt claimed she had no idea why she’d received so much money from
the Turkish interests), can be downloaded here [PDF].

â~@¢ EDMONDS TO TAKE STAND?: Finally, the Krikorian team has
petitioned the OEC to postpone the public hearing in the matter,
which is currently scheduled for this Thursday, Sept. 3rd, a few days
later. The reason: They would like Edmonds to take the stand during
the hearing, though she is scheduled to be out of the country until
the end of this week. Edmonds tells The BRAD BLOG she’d very much
like to appear as a witness, though she seems less than optimistic
that Krikorian will be granted the extension he has requested.