Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Paid Roxanne Conlin a Lot of Money to End the Comes vs Microsoft Case

Roxanne Conlin
Photo from Conlin's official Web site



Summary: A look at how much it took to stop Conlin's action against Microsoft and accusations that currently fly from her opponent's direction

LAST year we pointed out that Microsoft has the habit of paying huge amounts of money (or offering a job) to its adversaries because it helps keep them quiet and essentially removes their knowledge from the 'gene pool' of Microsoft critics. The Comes vs Microsoft case put a lot of pressure on Microsoft because it helped expose a huge number of illegal activities which we've been covering here since 2007. Roxanne Conlin was the lead lady in this case. One might say that Microsoft bribed her millions of dollars to take down the antitrust exhibits from the site and settle. Back around 2007 we contacted her office. We did that a few times some years ago (regarding this same case) and never received a response. Silence was probably part of the settlement.



According to this new article (now removed from the Web), Conlin's may have received a lot of money out of this case.

The lawsuit filed last month in Polk County said Conlin signed an agreement with the Microsoft Litigation Consortium that called for the group to receive 20 percent of attorney fees awarded in the case. The agreement also said disputes were to be resolved through arbitration. The lawsuit said Conlin has refused to enter into arbitration.


The article from the Chicago Tribune was also removed, but here is a snippet:

The lawsuit filed last month in Polk County says Conlin signed an agreement with the Microsoft Litigation Consortium that called for the group to receive 20 ...


In IowaPolitics.com we found accusations of "special interests" in Conlin's case and the accuser is Grassley, who is no friend of Microsoft [1, 2, 3, 4]. From the article:

First she leaves the country to rake in special-interest money and now U.S. Senate candidate Roxanne Conlin is headed for Las Vegas for a gathering of the Who’s Who of liberal special interest groups.

Conlin is scheduled to speak to a pro-abortion group, the Women’s Campaign Forum, as part of the Netroots Nation event on Saturday. The Netroots Nation includes Moveon.org, the American Civil Liberties Union, ActBlue, Emily’s List and a coalition of organized labor unions and liberal activist groups.

“Once again, Roxanne Conlin says one thing and does another. She’s promised not to accept any special interest money yet her entire trip to Las Vegas revolves around special interests,” said Eric Woolson, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley’s re-election campaign. “The sponsors of Netroots Nation are special interest groups committed to electing liberals and it’s to them that Roxanne Conlin would be beholden.”


Another new article that mentions Grassley says that "Lawyers seek cut of Conlin's fees from Microsoft case"

Des Moines lawyer Roxanne Conlin has been sued by a national group of plaintiffs lawyers for not sharing with them a portion of the $75 million in fees that she and a Minnesota law firm received in a settlement in Iowa's civil antitrust case against Microsoft.

A statement from Conlin, who is the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in the fall election, says the lawsuit is politically inspired.


That may be a possibility. Grassley does have his own interests too. We are not disputing Conlin's integrity, but we are interested in knowing just how much money Microsoft gave to Conlin only weeks after the trial began and Microsoft's embarrassing secrets were made publicly known. To put things in context:

Grassley faces a challenge from Democrat Roxanne Conlin of Des Moines in the November election.


Here is how their budgets fare:

In the Senate race, Grassley, a five-term senator, took in $630,460 during the period, compared with $205,720 for Democratic challenger Roxanne Conlin of Des Moines.

Grassley reported having $5.7 million on hand, compared with Conlin's $851,014. Conlin won a three-way primary.


It would be handy to know just how much of Microsoft's money was passed to Conlin, who since the settlement has said not a thing about Microsoft, so this prominent critic was essentially removed from the 'gene pool'.

Recent Techrights' Posts

With 9 Mentions of Azure In Its Latest Blog Post, Canonical is Again Promoting Microsoft and Intel Vendor Lock-in, Surveillance, Back Doors, Considerable Power Waste, and Defects That Cannot be Fixed
Microsoft did not even have to buy Canonical (for Canonical to act like it happened)
Links 28/03/2024: GAFAM Replacing Full-Time Workers With Interns Now
Links for the day
Consent & Debian's illegitimate constitution
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
The Time Our Server Host Died in a Car Accident
If Debian has internal problems, then they need to be illuminated and then tackled, at the very least in order to ensure we do not end up with "Deadian"
China's New 'IT' Rules Are a Massive Headache for Microsoft
On the issue of China we're neutral except when it comes to human rights issues
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, March 27, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, March 27, 2024
WeMakeFedora.org: harassment decision, victory for volunteers and Fedora Foundations
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 27/03/2024: Terrorism Grows in Africa, Unemployment in Finland Rose Sharply in a Year, Chinese Aggression Escalates
Links for the day
Links 27/03/2024: Ericsson and Tencent Layoffs
Links for the day
Amid Online Reports of XBox Sales Collapsing, Mass Layoffs in More Teams, and Windows Making Things Worse (Admission of Losses, Rumours About XBox Canceled as a Hardware Unit)...
Windows has loads of issues, also as a gaming platform
Links 27/03/2024: BBC Resorts to CG Cruft, Akamai Blocking Blunders in Piracy Shield
Links for the day
Android Approaches 90% of the Operating Systems Market in Chad (Windows Down From 99.5% 15 Years Ago to Just 2.5% Right Now)
Windows is down to about 2% on the Web-connected client side as measured by statCounter
Sainsbury's: Let Them Eat Yoghurts (and Microsoft Downtimes When They Need Proper Food)
a social control media 'scandal' this week
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 26, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Windows/Client at Microsoft Falling Sharply (Well Over 10% Decline Every Quarter), So For His Next Trick the Ponzi in Chief Merges Units, Spices Everything Up With "AI"
Hiding the steep decline of Windows/Client at Microsoft?
Free technology in housing and construction
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
We Need Open Standards With Free Software Implementations, Not "Interoperability" Alone
Sadly we're confronting misguided managers and a bunch of clowns trying to herd us all - sometimes without consent - into "clown computing"
Microsoft's Collapse in the Web Server Space Continued This Month
Microsoft is the "2%", just like Windows in some countries
Links 26/03/2024: Inflation Problems, Strikes in Finland
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/03/2024: Losing Children, Carbon Tax Discussed
Links for the day
Mark Shuttleworth resigns from Debian: volunteer suicide and Albania questions unanswered, mass resignations continue
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 26/03/2024: 6,000 Layoffs at Dell, Microsoft “XBox is in Real Trouble as a Hardware Manufacturer”
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/03/2024: Microsofters Still Trying to 'Extend' Gemini Protocol
Links for the day
Look What IBM's Red Hat is Turning CentOS Into
For 17 years our site ran on CentOS. Thankfully we're done with that...
The Julian Paul Assange Verdict: The High Court Has Granted Assange Leave to Appeal Extradition to the United States, Decision Adjourned to May 20th Pending Assurances
The decision is out
The Microsoft and Apple Antitrust Issues Have Some But Not Many Commonalities
gist of the comparison to Microsoft
ZDNet, Sponsored by Microsoft for Paid-for Propaganda (in 'Article' Clothing), Has Added Pop-Up or Overlay to All Pages, Saying "813 Partners Will Store and Access Information on Your Device"
Avoiding ZDNet may become imperative given what it has turned into
Julian Assange Verdict 3 Hours Away
Their decision is due to be published at 1030 GMT
People Who Cover Suicide Aren't Suicidal
Assange didn't just "deteriorate". This deterioration was involuntary and very much imposed upon him.
Overworking Kills
The body usually (but not always) knows best
Former Red Hat Chief (CEO), Who Decided to Leave the Company Earlier This Month, Talks About "Cloud Company Red Hat" to CNBC
shows a lack of foresight and dependence on buzzwords
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 25, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, March 25, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Discord Does Not Make Money, It's Spying on People and Selling Data/Control (38% is Allegedly Controlled by the Communist Party of China)
a considerable share exists
In At Least Two Nations Windows is Now Measured at 2% "Market Share" (Microsoft Really Does Not Want People to Notice That)
Ignore the mindless "AI"-washing
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) Still Has Hundreds of Thousands of Simultaneously-Online Unique Users
The scale of IRC