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to promote civic engagement in the Philadelphia region.When does the word "corrupt" become libelous?
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 at 12:43 pm - by Alan Tu. Filed under: Community.
Letter from Frank DiCicco's attorney warning Jethro Heiko to apologize and retract recent statements. Click image to see full size letter
If you call a politician corrupt, can you be sued for defamation? Calling all attorneys out there. We need your pro bono advice.
On Monday, Philadelphia City Councilman Frank DiCicco’s lawyer/son warned in a letter to anti casino activist Jethro Heiko that he could be sued for defamation of character for comments he made on the Young Philly Politics blog. Heiko left his comment on a story about the City Council’s approval for a new zoning designation for the site around 8th and Market Streets where the Foxwoods casino is expected to be built. Heiko criticizes Frank DiCicco and the rest of City Council for not doing more to block Foxwoods and another casino. Heiko is a founder of Casino Free Philadelphia which has opposed the state’s plan to bring casino gambling to the city. In Christian DiCicco’s letter to Heiko, one of the comments he cites as being “malicious, false and defamatory” is this one.
Comment made by Jethro Heiko of Casino Free Philadelphia
Heiko responded to Christian DiCicco’s letter with a blog post on Young Philly Politics. He said, he would not apologize and he will not retract anything. Here’s where it gets interesting. Heiko says he didn’t defame anyone because the word “corruption” refers to the councilman’s moral judgment.
what I meant when I referred (and will continue to refer) to the Councilman as a politician who engages in corruption. But let’s get real about the term – it means lacking in integrity, virtue and moral principle; it means a deviation from what is right; it means failing to represent the public interest. It does not mean that the official took a bribe and I have never used it that way.
Now I don’t know if the DiCicco’s will actually file a defamation suit, but I want to know whether you think the word “corruption” is defamatory as in, this politician is on the take and I can prove it, or if it’s similar to suggesting someone makes bad decisions.
Just to give you a starting point. Here’s the definition of corrupt from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.
Corrupt: a: impairment of integrity, virtue, or moral principle : depravity b: decay, decompositionc: inducement to wrong by improper or unlawful means (as bribery) d: a departure from the original or from what is pure or correct
June 17th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
I am not an attorney, but for a libel suit to be successful, three things need to occur. First, the plaintiff must prove that the statement, in this case corruption, is not true. Secondly, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant made the statement in question with malice of forethought, meaning that the defendant knew the statement was incorrect and intentionally stated it anyway in hopes of causing harm. Finally, the plaintiff must prove that a reasonable person would actually believe the source. Newspapers are easy targets for this as they tout themselves as being the official record of events. Blogs are somewhat sketchy in this department as many people are quick to discount what they read on the internet, and therefore likely to dismiss a statement as being opinion rather than fact. This, of course, is important in determining if a statement is libelous and what damages should be awarded, since if no one believes the statement, it is difficult to prove that you have been defamed.
June 17th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
George thanks for jumping in. But are you saying that in this case that a public official accused of being corrupt has the burden of proving he’s not corrupt? Shouldn’t the burden be on the person who is labeling someone as corrupt to have to prove that?
June 17th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
No matter what side of the casino fence you’re on (I am of course in the opposition), this action alone reflects extremely poorly on DiCicco. Is this dude for serious? Nothing like some quality father-son bonding time - perhaps it is Christian’s present for Father’s Day.
June 17th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
George is correct. The burden of proof in defamation cases is on the plaintiff. It is especially hard for politicians to win on it, even if it is found that the underlying info is false. (You still have to show actual malice in the statement.)
The Sup Court (Sullivan v NY Times and others) noted that it would have a chilling effect on speech if a politician could sue a critic and demand that they prove what they are saying
June 17th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
As the evidence above indicates, the issue has less to do with the shaky legal merits of the case, than with the unbecoming tactics the Councilman uses. While everyone understands the difficulties of the situation at hand, these kinds of challenges are what define political processes. How do you represent multiple constituencies? When hard choices face you how do you interact respectfully with many communities? How do you work to build coalitions and alliances across boundaries? How do you reach out to communities when they feel disenfranchised and disrespected? The Councilman has not met this challenge in any way. As his son’s letter indicates, Councilman DiCicco has chosen divisiveness over dialogue, petty threats over creative solutions. It’s not the legal definition of corruption, but for many people, it’s a corrupted approach that’s arguably much worse.
June 18th, 2009 at 10:00 am
So I googled, Is Nepotism Corruption? And the very first hit was Wikipedia’s page on Political Corruption, which actually has a very good, accessible overview (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_corruption).
It says, “Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain.”
Including:
“Favoring relatives (nepotism) or personal friends (cronyism) is a form of illegitimate private gain. …. A milder form of cronyism is an “old boy network”, in which appointees to official positions are selected only from a closed and exclusive social network – such as the alumni of particular universities – instead of appointing the most competent candidate.
Seeking to harm enemies becomes corruption when official powers are illegitimately used as means to this end. For example, trumped-up charges are often brought up against journalists or writers who bring up politically sensitive issues, ….”
During the election of 2007, many but not all City Council candidates responded to an ethics survey by the Committee of 70 which specifically asked for their support for a long list of ethical reforms, including bans on nepotism and hiring relatives (http://www.seventy.org/Files/2007_CCEthics_Responses.pdf). Not every candidate could express full support for that part of the ethics agenda because of their belief that banning nepotism would restrict them from hiring the very best candidates who happen to be their relatives, who are excellent, but who would be discriminated against on the basis of their relationships. So very frank, proud assertions were made in support of nepotism, which happens to be an acknowledged form of corruption.
Does everyone have to agree on the definition of corruption? In a court of law, yes. But the court of public opinion is regarded as significant because the “perception of corruption” can also be influential. So much so that a good-government group called Transparency International sponsors a “Corruption Perceptions Index” which ranks countries by perceptions of corruption (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index).
Whether or not the opinion of one blog commentator is libel, it is a fact that there is widespread perception of corruption in Philadelphia’s government. The blog commentary on Philly.com is filled with such allegations in much more colorful language than was used on YPP.
Why does it matter? It matters because political corruption subverts democracy. It creates an un-level playing field. It distorts the functions of government away from the service of its citizens to the benefit of private interests, at the expense of citizens. Perceptions of corruption influence decisions such as leaving a city or doing business there. We need to learn more about the varied forms of corruption, their consequences, and how to fix the problems.