07.27.10
Microsoft Paid Roxanne Conlin a Lot of Money to End the Comes vs Microsoft Case
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’. █
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