Dunning’s Misleading Column

By David GreenwaldJanuary 25, 200792 comments
Earlier this week on January 23, Dunning wrote:

THOSE BAYING LEGAL BEAGLES … last week I mentioned in this space the persistent rumor that legal types are examining the various blogs in town for possible causes of action, an observation that struck a chord with my friend Mike at aol.com … writes Mike: “You hit the nail on the head better than you could know when you said there are lawyers trolling the area for suits, and I don’t mean Brooks Brothers.” … amen, Mike, you’re the one hitting nails on the head …

Adds Mike: “There is nothing that turns those guys on but a great mystery to open that journey down the long and winding road to truth (and discovery), and the pot o’ gold at the end of the rainbow. All it takes is someone who got wrecked and hankers after a king-size settlement to get the ball rolling.” …

An interesting observation, indeed, given that various bloggers in town continue to pump out actionable libel and defamation nearly every day of the week, perhaps under the mistaken impression that “anonymous” blogs are no-holds-barred free-for-alls where the usual rules of law are suspended … they aren’t, which is a lesson some of them will no doubt learn in the near future …

So it turns out Mike at aol.com writes me to clarify that his email to Dunning was “cherry-picked” and distorted.

Mike was kind enough to write in and provide us with the full email which was in response to a completely different topic:

howdy there-

you know I think you hit the nail on the head better than you could (yet) know when you said there are lawyers trolling the area for suits…& I don’t mean Brooks Brothers…

there is nothing that turns those guys on but a great mystery to open ‘that journey down the long and winding road to truth’ (called discovery), and the pot’o’gold at the end of a rainbow.

all it takes is someone who got wrecked and hankers after a King-size settlement…

…as in Rodney _________________…

to get the ball rolling, as it is. but innocent town folk may ask, why should we get the Bill. And therein lies the justice of the American way:
each and severally.

those who shirk their duties, or do the legal opposite, should pay.

anyway, have a nice holiday…

Mike’s comment was most likely in reference to the exchange in Dunning’s January 11, 2007 column:

Writes Larry at sbcglobal.net: “Bob — Your analysis of the Target vs. Downtown debate is so truthful, so logical and so sensible I can already guess next Sunday’s Enterprise headline: CAVE sues Dunning and Enterprise.”

Don’t laugh, Larry … there are Bay Area lawyers scouring Yolo County caves for clients even as we speak…

But, of course Dunning used the words of Mike to give it an entirely new and unintended meaning.

John Lofland’s guest commentary this morning asked, “How literally/seriously should we take anything that Bob Dunning says?” I think we see that the answer is we ought to treat everything he says with a grain of salt because it is clear at least to this blogger, that we’re not getting the full story.

—Doug Paul Davis reporting

Author

  • David Greenwald

    Greenwald is the founder, editor, and executive director of the Davis Vanguard. He founded the Vanguard in 2006. David Greenwald moved to Davis in 1996 to attend Graduate School at UC Davis in Political Science. He lives in South Davis with his wife Cecilia Escamilla Greenwald and three children.

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92 comments

  1. Dunning is really not worth all this space and attention. His “rice bowl”, depends on reader’s interest; celebrity status, whether positive of negative is all the same to him. Let’s move on to something important like how we get a council majority in 2008 that SERVES the interests of the people of Davis.

  2. Dunning is really not worth all this space and attention. His “rice bowl”, depends on reader’s interest; celebrity status, whether positive of negative is all the same to him. Let’s move on to something important like how we get a council majority in 2008 that SERVES the interests of the people of Davis.

  3. Dunning is really not worth all this space and attention. His “rice bowl”, depends on reader’s interest; celebrity status, whether positive of negative is all the same to him. Let’s move on to something important like how we get a council majority in 2008 that SERVES the interests of the people of Davis.

  4. Dunning is really not worth all this space and attention. His “rice bowl”, depends on reader’s interest; celebrity status, whether positive of negative is all the same to him. Let’s move on to something important like how we get a council majority in 2008 that SERVES the interests of the people of Davis.

  21. I would start with finding good strong candidates that can appeal to a good cross-section of the city’s population crossing over from the traditional progressive segments into some of the newer developments.

  22. I would start with finding good strong candidates that can appeal to a good cross-section of the city’s population crossing over from the traditional progressive segments into some of the newer developments.

  23. I would start with finding good strong candidates that can appeal to a good cross-section of the city’s population crossing over from the traditional progressive segments into some of the newer developments.

  24. I would start with finding good strong candidates that can appeal to a good cross-section of the city’s population crossing over from the traditional progressive segments into some of the newer developments.

  25. Levy will most likely make another run at council. He is the Saylor and Asmundson candidate and carries a lot of political baggage because of this into 2008.
    The critical thing is to build voter coalitions. We do not all have to have exactly the same agenda but we can all agree that this council majority’s agenda must go…” a new direction” seems to be the national political mantra and it certainly applies to our local politics as well. Uniting behind a few good candidates(no more than the open council seats)and discipline without personality battles and ego hissy-fits will win the day for us.

  26. Levy will most likely make another run at council. He is the Saylor and Asmundson candidate and carries a lot of political baggage because of this into 2008.
    The critical thing is to build voter coalitions. We do not all have to have exactly the same agenda but we can all agree that this council majority’s agenda must go…” a new direction” seems to be the national political mantra and it certainly applies to our local politics as well. Uniting behind a few good candidates(no more than the open council seats)and discipline without personality battles and ego hissy-fits will win the day for us.

  27. Levy will most likely make another run at council. He is the Saylor and Asmundson candidate and carries a lot of political baggage because of this into 2008.
    The critical thing is to build voter coalitions. We do not all have to have exactly the same agenda but we can all agree that this council majority’s agenda must go…” a new direction” seems to be the national political mantra and it certainly applies to our local politics as well. Uniting behind a few good candidates(no more than the open council seats)and discipline without personality battles and ego hissy-fits will win the day for us.

  28. Levy will most likely make another run at council. He is the Saylor and Asmundson candidate and carries a lot of political baggage because of this into 2008.
    The critical thing is to build voter coalitions. We do not all have to have exactly the same agenda but we can all agree that this council majority’s agenda must go…” a new direction” seems to be the national political mantra and it certainly applies to our local politics as well. Uniting behind a few good candidates(no more than the open council seats)and discipline without personality battles and ego hissy-fits will win the day for us.