**THIS IS AN EXCLUSIVE, BREAKING STORY**
This morning Landslide Communications filed a lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court against Republican Party U.S. Senate nominee Elizabeth Emken, and her campaign committee, for breach of contract, fraud and other charges. Landslide Communications, whose proprietor is well-known longtime conservative activist and leader Jim Lacy, featured Emken on 5.5 million pieces of direct mail to voters, but hasn’t paid the bulk of the money owed for those mailings – $65,000. (A review of Emken’s campaign filings shows significant outstanding debt to other slate card vendors as well). Landslide Communications handles some pretty high-profile slates including the “Save Prop. 13” “National Tax Limitation Committee” and “Small Business Action Committee” products.
The most interesting part of this particular lawsuit (I have reviewed many lawsuit briefs in politics over the years) is an allegation of fraud on the part of Emken herself. Campaign reports show that the candidate loaned her campaign a substantial sum of money earlier in the year, which she then paid back to herself. In the complaint, Lacy’s attorney Bradley Hertz of the Jim Sutton Law Firm says that Emken “secretly” paid herself back at the time while her reports showed the funds, leading Lacy (and possibly others) into concluding that she had the funds in the bank to pay her obligations to Landslide Communications.
The fraud charge might be particularly worrisome for Emken as it opens up the potential for personal liability on her part, should she be convicted of that charge. Add in attorneys fees and damages and there could be a pretty substantial financial downside for Emken.
You can click here to view the actual filing, which is quite specific as to the cause of action.
Worthy of note is that this complaint alleges violation of an “oral agreement” made between Landslide Communications and Premiere Strategies, who had been retained by Emken as the lead consultant for her race. So there may not be a written contract here. But obviously all of the financial obligations referred to by Lacy are reported on Emken’s report, so the campaign has acknowledged them.
Needless to say this lawsuit is not good news for ersatz United States Senator Emken. At a minimum this story emphasizes the fundraising troubles that have been a big challenge for Emken. This also raises questions, however, about the strategy employed by Emken to win the GOP nomination. These slate mailings were her main source of voter-contact in a crowded primary. Without them, it is unclear if she would have been the top vote-getter. Especially if you presume that if she did not get onto these slates, that one or more of her opponents would have done so.
No doubt we’ll hear more about this issue. I have reached out to the Elizabeth Emken for a comment on the Landslide Communications lawsuit. If comment is forthcoming, please be sure we will post it up.