this is likely a first for MaxRedline; however, the extensive links hold up.
From Larry Sparks, Clatsop Co Republican Chairman (via GB):
What Did She Know and When Did She Know It
Suzanne Bonamici's husband, Michael Simon, was David Wu's personal attorney for nearly a decade, and as recently as last year Bonamici described Wu as “a family friend.” Despite his displays of erratic behavior, she reportedly even went to bat for him as recently as 2010 to encourage a primary challenger to drop out.
Yet, for some reason, the close relationship between the Bonamici-Simons and Wu has been ignored since Bonamici entered the CD-1 race. Pieced together from published reports, the evidence shows Suzanne Bonamici most certainly was aware of David Wu’s history as a sexual abuser and it defies common sense that she did not know of his irresponsible and embarrassing behavior over the past few years. After all, it was no secret among his friends and political colleagues. In late October, a senior staffer decried “the charade” others were playing to keep him in office. Bonamici had contributed $250 to Wu on October 25, 2010.
And though Bonamici now says she’d begun to plan a run against Wu early this year, she held back for months before finally entering the race -- after he resigned.
The Background: Simon Threatens Dying Woman
In the throes of a public relations nightmare, Wu hired Michael Simon in 2004. The Oregonian had told Wu it was about to publish a story detailing Wu’s alleged 1976 assault of a girlfriend when he was an undergrad at Stanford.
Leah Kaplan, a school counselor at the time of the assault, was a key source in the Oregonian story, and she was dying when the Oregonian interviewed her: “Kaplan said the woman claimed Wu had entered her dorm room, attacked her and wrestled with her. She said the woman told her that she was fighting Wu off and that he tried to silence her by holding a pillow over her mouth. ‘She was screaming. He tried to rape her’, Kaplan said, recalling the woman's account.”
According to the paper’s then-Managing Editor Stephen Engelberg, Wu’s attorney, Simon, threatened a dying woman’s family should she tell her story.
“Wu hired a lawyer who ferociously counter-attacked, threatening to sue the Oregonian if any story were published. Neither Wu nor the lawyer would answer questions about the incident, but they contacted Kaplan's family and made it clear they were prepared to hold the dying woman legally accountable for her conduct. Wu's campaign manager said the candidate would never respond to ‘unsubstantiated allegations’."
In an about-face, Wu issued a statement the day of publication in 2004 “admitting to ‘inexcusable behavior on my part’, confirming that he was disciplined by Stanford and asserting that he worked with a counselor after the incident.
Michael Simon’s law firm, Perkins Coie, collected nearly $60,000 from Wu for Congress during this period.
10/22/04 - $29,982
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00329292/155055/sb/ALL
12/20/04 - $15,638
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00329292/163112/sb/ALL
4/1/05 - $11,082
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00329292/180239/sb/ALL
Wu was easily re-elected in November 2004.
Wu Ally Warns “Charade Needs To End NOW”, Bonamici Donates to Wu Campaign
Over his years in Congress, Wu exhibited fits of bizarre behavior. “In one instance, he warned of faux Klingons in the White House during a floor speech in 2007. In 2003, as the House was convulsing to pass the Medicare prescription bill, Wu fell into a state that one colleague described as ‘almost catatonic,’ according to The Washington Post, as Democratic leaders frantically tried to get him to vote for the bill.”
Wu was hospitalized for two days after Election Day 2008, over what he said was a bad reaction to Ambien and a generic for Valium. His staff and family reportedly couldn’t find him on Election Day. (Reported Feb 2011) He also admitted to taking painkillers – reported to be Oxycodone, from a campaign donor in 2010.
His emotional stability worsened to the point that in the days leading up to the Nov. 2010 election, local Democrats complained about him and Wu staff and consultants sought to find a psychiatric hospital for him.
“Several staff members confronted Wu for the final time on Oct. 30….The meeting was held after four consecutive days of troubling behavior that led the staff to agree that Wu needed a higher level of medical care, according to people intimately familiar with the events of that period….
‘This is way beyond acceptable levels and the charade needs to end NOW,’ wrote Lisa Grove, a senior and long-serving campaign pollster, in an e-mail to colleagues that day. ‘No enabling by any potential enablers, he needs help and you need to be protected. Nothing else matters right now. Nothing else’.”
On October 25, 2010 Suzanne Bonamici contributed $250 to Wu, a strong signal of support.
(Center For Responsive Politics, www.opensecrets.org, Accessed 10/5/11)
Willamette Week reported that “Wu’s behavior grew so erratic in the final weeks before his re-election last November that the Oregon Democrat’s closest political advisers staged two of what some of them termed ‘interventions’ to urge him to seek psychiatric help.”
His irrational behavior didn’t occur only behind closed doors. “Phyllis Kirkwood, a Democratic precinct leader in Washington County, was alarmed enough to send Wu a letter after the Oct. 27 event. “You gave us no reason in that speech to support you at all,’ she wrote in the letter, which she confirmed for The Oregonian. ... ‘You sounded bitter and angry, blaming in loud, fearsome tones your possible defeat on your opponent and the media.’
In an interview, Kirkwood said Wu ‘yelled a lot, which I didn't think was necessary. In fact, I almost got up and said, 'Hold on now, Mr. Wu, we are all your friends.'"
Still, he was reelected by a comfortable margin in November, with Bonamici’s help.
Wu Staff Quits
In mid-January, the Oregonian reported that since the November election, Wu “had lost at least six staffers plus the leadership of a veteran campaign team that guided him to a seventh term amid complaints about his public behavior.”http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/04/rep_david_wu_loses_another_emp.html
Then came news of the photo of Wu in a tiger costume.
On February 18, 2011 Willamette Week reported “At 1:03 am PST on Saturday, Oct. 30, an email from Wu’s Congressional BlackBerry landed in the inbox of a female staffer….There was no message attached to the email, only a single image. That photo, copied above, showed Wu in a plush tiger suit with orange- and black-striped mittens over his hands, a hood with pointy ears pulled over his head and a white circle split by a zipper stretched over his stomach.” He also sent follow-up emails to his staff, pretending to be his children.
The pictures later went viral, and “David Wu tiger” became the most popular Google search term for the congressman.
In an intro to her interview with David Wu, KGW’s Laural Porter described in late February how many had lost faith in his ability to do his job.
“A lot of people are very concerned about you….your whole senior staff resigned after the election. They talked about strange behavior, erratic behavior, sometimes hostile. Some loyal Democratic supporters have severed their ties with you. Your staff tried to hide you from public view because they were afraid of what you might say or do.”
Simon Resigns as Wu’s Attorney – Six Months After Charade Warning
On April 26, 2011, six months after Wu’s pollster urges an end to “the charade”, the Oregonian reported that Michael Simon had resigned as Wu’s attorney. And the story called Simon and Sen. Bonamici “a powerhouse couple with deep roots” in the 1st district.
http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/04/rep_david_wu_loses_another_emp.html
All told, Simon’s firm, Perkins Coie, had collected nearly $75,000 from Wu.
5/29/02 - $3198
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00329292/42453/sb/ALL
4/1/02 - $9639
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00329292/35790/sb/ALL
8/15/02 - $2031
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00329292/53821/sb/ALL
10/1/02 - $285
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00329292/59072/sb/ALL
1/24/04 - $1282
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00329292/116915/sb/ALL
10/22/04 - $29,982
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00329292/155055/sb/ALL
12/20/04 - $15,638
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00329292/163112/sb/ALL
4/1/05 - $11,082
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00329292/180239/sb/ALL
Simon was quoted as saying he resigned “for personal reasons that are unrelated to Congressman Wu." The paper noted, “Simon is married to state Sen. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Beaverton, who may or may not be considering a primary challenge to Wu in the 1st Congressional District next spring.”
Within a few hours, the story changed: Bonamici said she was now “seriously considering” a challenge to Wu. Noted the Oregonian, “That's a change for her, since she had been quite circumspect in the past about the possibility of running.
Bonamici does have a couple of complications. Her husband, attorney Michael Simon, has long represented Wu and his campaign - and he's also been nominated for a federal judgeship.
“Secondly, Bonamici chairs the Senate Redistricting Committee, which means she is in the middle of the discussions over how to redraw the 1st district (and every other legislative and congressional district in the state) to account for population changes.”http://blog.oregonlive.com/mapesonpolitics/2011/04/bonamici_ups_her_public_profil.html
Yet, she still didn’t enter the race formally, and continued her work on redistricting. On July 25, 2011 The Oregonian confirmed that a young woman involved in an aggressive sexual encounter with Wu last year was 18 at the time of the incident.
On July 26, 2011, in a story announcing his forced resignation, the Oregonian quoted a former Wu campaign manager and vice chair of the state Democratic Party saying many “bear responsibility” for not speaking up sooner about Wu’s troubles.
"There are far too many of us on this long journey with David over the last 12 years that kept our mouth shut when we should not have. And ultimately, we bear some responsibility in allowing him to be a member of Congress," said Maria Smithson, who managed Wu's first campaign in 1998.
Wu Resigns, Avakian Questions Bonamici’s Leadership
Wu resigned on August 3, and Bonamici filed for the vacant seat on August 4.
The National Journal reported that Avakian took a swipe at Bonamici for waiting so long to get into the race. ‘Now that this is an open seat, it isn't surprising to see others entering the race. Leadership is about standing up, even when it is inconvenient or uncomfortable. That is why I declared my candidacy over three months ago, saying it was time to replace David Wu,’ he said.”
Bonamici Calls Wu a “Family Friend”, Attempts to Pressure Wu Primary Rival Out of the Race
Amid his growing problems, Bonamici last year considered Wu a “family friend” and reportedly sought to discourage a Wu rival in the 2010 primary. According to an October 5, 2011 report in the Oregonian, Bonamici allegedly cited her friendship with Wu as a reason that Sandy Webb, the wife of Wu primary rival David Robinson, would not receive a key endorsement for her own state House race. “Webb said in an interview that Bonamici mentioned that Wu was a friend and that she ‘couldn't expect support’ if Robinson didn't get out of the race’.”
The Oregonian also reported that Robinson forwarded to the paper a 2009 email from Bonamici to Robinson, who had written asking for a meeting with her to talk about his own candidacy against Wu. “Bonamici said it would be ‘awkward’ to meet with him because Wu ‘is a family friend and (as any Google search will reveal) he has been a client of my husband's’."
On OPB’s October 25 edition of Think Out Loud, Bonamici said she made up her mind early this year to run against Wu, but was too busy to officially enter the race. One of her jobs, of course, was to chair the redistricting committee that would determine the First District’s future boundaries.
"I was watching his career as a legislative official and a resident of the district. But during the legislative session, I could not file to run against him because I was busy doing the work of the legislature. I filed after the legislative session," she said.
The Legislature adjourned on June 30, 2011 -- 34 days before Wu resigned from Congress and 35 days before Bonamici declared her candidacy.
In the KGW/Oregonian debate on October 18, Bonamici said, "It's a good thing that David Wu no longer represents this district. I'm glad he resigned. He needed to resign. What we need to do is look at going forward, who is the best person to represent this district."
Given her close ties to David Wu, her continued support of him as his behavior worsened and her refusal to act only until it benefitted her political interests, how can Suzanne Bonamici possibly be the best person to represent CD-1?
An interesting photo from Suzanne Bonamici’s 2007 website:
Suzanne Bonamici On The Campaign Trail With David Wu, as Shown On Bonamici’s Own Campaign Website
I got a call yesterday asking if I had voted. I have misplaced my ballot, and had been looking for it, so I told the caller this, thanked her for calling, and went to the county elections office for a new ballot. Made my mark, signed the privacy envelope, and dropped it in.
All I need to know is the Bon is a Dem, and I knew that.
Posted by: Sam L. | January 25, 2012 at 09:03 AM
According to The Zero, some of the material cited in the above post is coming out in a Cornilles tv ad soon. Thankfully, there's only a week to go.
My sources say that as of last week, SEIU, DCC, and AFL-CIO have dumped $2 million into the campaign (which explains the veritable deluge of attack mailers clotting up my postal box).
By contrast, Republicans have contributed $85,000 on behalf of the Cornilles campaign.
Makes one wonder how Suzanne would be faring, absent all that cold cash....
Posted by: Max | January 25, 2012 at 08:04 PM