Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Here's my correspondence from yesterday with Pat Howard of the Erie-Times:

Pat:

Don't you think you were beating a dead horse with Sunday's column?
Instead of throwing the final loads of dirt on our ex-mayor's political
grave, why aren't we talking about an even bigger potential scandal that
may have emerged out of the Filippi trial? That is Greg Rubino's influence with the state prosecutor's office. Did, in fact, he use his influence to cause the defendents to be charged with a crime that wasn't even a crime? And if so, how did he get such sway? What Rick and his friends may have done pales on the corruption scale in comparison to what Rubino, presumably with the backing of the Baldwin
Brothers, may have pulled off. Dare I ask if the Baldwins hold sway over
the Times?


Sincerely,

Ralph


Mr. *****,

Neither Rick Filippi nor Greg Rubino and Baldwin Brothers hold sway over our newsroom. The suggestion of the latter seems odd, in fact, given our coverage and commentary as it applies to Mr. Rubino's and Baldwin Brothers' interests in some recent high-profile issues. Trust me, Rubino and the Baldwins are no fans of ours. As I've written repeatedly since all this started, I make no judgment on the criminal case against Filippi. That's for the jury, and the jury has spoken. My point was to put the events in perspective -- namely that the tragedy of Filippi and what his decisions put himself, his family and this community through were larger than that case. The timing seemed apt to me. But opinions vary. Thanks for writing.

PH

7 comments:

Stephanie said...

On WJET yesterday, RF indicated there are some civil suits he's pondering. I bet the ETN is named.

Dr. Downing said...

I'm not surprised...it's retribution time for Mr. Filippi.

However, if I could provide some advice to the attorney, I would tell him to do nothing right now except run the family business. He should focus on whatever he does for money; doesn't he own property and doesn't he operate a law office?

His name has been in the press far too often during the past several years, mostly in a bad way. He needs to let it go right now and focus on business.

I doubt that he will follow this advice, because he he's gone too far down whatever path he's been on for the past few years.

Anyway, if he pursues lawsuits, it will certainly make for good press. He's becoming quite a character.

DokTorDee

Ralph said...

For what it's worth, Tim Lucas claims he has no grounds for lawsuits. (Saw a TV interview with that long-hair on Saturday after verdict was announced.)

Dr. Downing said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Dr. Downing said...

Wait, what's wrong with long hair? Or are you implying something specific about Tim Lucas?

Do you think he's a bad person? I've seen him on TV a few dozen times but I don't know much about him.

Ralph said...

"Long-hair" was more-or-less a tongue-in-cheek description, as I once didn't cut my hair for like two years. That said, when I saw him on Saturday, Mr. Lucas was sporting some startling locks for an attorney.

Cheers.

Anonymous said...

I'd have to agree about the Lucas hair. I remember back in the day when he was on the news all the time defending accused drug dealers and other less fortunates.

Now, I think that he is in the running for an Edgar Winter look-alike contest.

And that is not an insult by my standards.