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''Werner Erhard and Associates v. Christopher Cox for Congress'' is a lawsuit that was filed in 1988 by the company Werner Erhard and Associates and its owner Werner Erhard (the founder of Erhard Seminars Training, or "est") against then-Congressional candidate Christopher Cox and his campaign organization Christopher Cox for Congress. Cox's campaign sent out material which was critical of Rosenberg's ties to Erhard and Erhard's organizations. The mailer described Rosenberg as an "est advocate", and quoted a ''Los Angeles'' magazine article which had said the Cult Awareness Network described Erhard's organization as a "destructive cult". Cox's campaign also called citizens and asked them what they thought of a political candidate who had connections "with that cult est". Cox won the election in the Republican primary, with Irvine, California Councilman David Baker placing second and Rosenberg third. Cox went on to win the Republican primary and then later won the general election to become the next United States Representative from California's 40th congressional district. On May 27, 1988, Werner Erhard and his organization Werner Erhard and Associates filed a lawsuit for $5 million in Orange County Superior Court against Christopher Cox and his campaign, claiming libel and slander. On December 6, 1988, Superior Court Commissioner Eleanor M. Palk issued a ruling dismissing the libel cause of action, but did not dismiss the slander charges. On December 16, 1988, Palk ruled that Cox, his defense attorneys, and expert witnesses could view a 60-hour est organization videotape. Cox's attorneys had requested to view the video in order to determine if material contained in the tape could support expert witness testimony from cult experts. On February 28, 1989, Werner Erhard chose to drop the charges of slander from his suit against Cox. Erhard's attorney's asserted this decision was made in order to expedite an appeal of the dismissal of the libel charges to the California Courts of Appeal. According to testimony given by Cox in his nomination hearing to become Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the case was dismissed with prejudice in 1992. ==1988 campaign== On January 4, 1988, Congressman Robert Badham announced he would not seek re-election to Congress, and Nathan Rosenberg who had run against Badham in 1986 said he "is definitely looking at it". Rosenberg said he had "stayed in contact with all the supporters I had last time", and had already raised $50,000 for a potential primary challenge to Badham.〔 Rosenberg became the first candidate to officially enter the race for the open seat for Congress on January 5, 1988. Rosenberg said he already had $200,000 in cash and an additional $150,000 in pledged contributions.〔 He hired David Vaporean, Badham's campaign manager from 1986.〔 Rosenberg commented on the effect of Erhard on his 1988 campaign: "In some ways it's a help. In other ways, for some people, it's controversial. Werner is a controversial figure." Rosenberg ran against Christopher Cox in the 1988 race for the seat representing California's 40th congressional district. For the period of January 1 to March 31, 1988, Rosenberg's campaign had raised $195,986 to Cox's $186,082. Rosenberg led the contenders for the 40th Congressional District in total expenses for the period.〔 Rosenberg was seen as an early favorite in the 1988 race, though his candidacy was subject to a whisper campaign that the majority of his supporters were followers of his brother Erhard's est training. "His money is est money," said a political operative in Orange County in a statement in the ''Sacramento Bee''.〔 In May 1988, Cox's campaign sent out a four-page political mailer to 110,000 potential Republican voters in the district, which accused Rosenberg of concealing links to Erhard and his companies and of not being fully truthful regarding his work experience.〔 The mailer characterized Rosenberg as an "est advocate".〔 It quoted a ''Los Angeles'' magazine article which had said that the Chicago, Illinois organization Cult Awareness Network referred to Erhard's companies as "destructive cults".〔〔 Quotations included in the mailer said "what Erhard has done is utterly disastrous".〔 The ''Los Angeles'' magazine article cited by the mailer quotes a representative of the Cult Awareness Network who had compared the est organization to the Unification Church, Scientology, Transcendental Meditation, and Hare Krishna.〔 ''The Orange County Register'' compared the mailer to a similar brochure sent out by Badham's 1986 campaign to voters in the district.〔 A political consultant for Cox said that the mailer was sent out in order to point out "Rosenberg's campaign tactics of concealment and distortion," and stated "We just wanted to tell the voter to be wary of anything Nathan Rosenberg says."〔 The Cox campaign also placed phone calls to voters asking for their opinions on a political candidate's links "with that cult est".〔 A subsequent mailer sent out by the Cox campaign included an article that detailed Rosenberg's connections to Erhard's est organization.〔 The article stated "some critical studies ... branded" est "a non- or even anti-religious cult with Eastern mystical overtones". According to the ''Los Angeles Times'', Rosenberg said he had worked as a "seminar leader" in The Forum, and he "angrily dismissed allegations raised in the mailer that his brother's programs are subversive or cultlike."〔 Rosenberg's political consultant, David Vaporean, acknowledged that "a number of people" who had previously heard Rosenberg lecture in seminars for Erhard's organization were included in the volunteer base for his 1988 campaign.〔 A poll in late May 1988 found that a majority of voters were not concerned with whether or not a candidate had a controversial member within their family - a reference to Rosenberg's brother Erhard. The poll, conducted by Chapman University's Chapman College Survey group for ''The Orange County Register'', showed Cox leading in the Republican primary with 15 percent to Rosenberg's 13 percent.〔 57 percent of voters polled were undecided.〔 Of those that were decided, 36 percent supported Cox, while 30 percent supported Rosenberg.〔 "I think the undecideds will break out along the lines of the people who have already decided," he said. "We'll get the lion's share. The momentum is all going in the right direction," said Cox.〔 Rosenberg commented on the large number of undecided voters: "What it points out is none of us really has gotten our message out," he said. "Not one candidate has been strong enough to break out of the pack."〔 In June 1988, only days before the election date, mailers were sent out by an individual named Arthur M. Jackson that characterized Christopher Cox as a Communist propagandist, based on Cox's business involvement in translating the Soviet newspaper, ''Pravda'', and accused Baker of marital infidelity. Rosenberg, whose own campaign had sent out a similar mailer referencing Cox's ''Pravda'' translation work, held a press conference and stated his campaign had "nothing to do" with Jackson's mailers, an assertion that seemed implausible to Cox and Baker.〔〔 Jackson was a graduate of Erhard's est training, and a donor to Rosenberg's campaign.〔 A company called Diversified Mailing Inc. handled Jackson's mailings. The same company processed Rosenberg's campaign mail and had been used by his political consultant David Vaporean for 10 years.〔 Rosenberg acknowledged he knew Jackson since 1980 when the two both worked in Washington, D.C.〔〔 He said that Jackson was "a friend, but a misguided friend", and told press he had asked an aide to return Jackson's $1,000 campaign contribution to him, as he disapproved of his tactics.〔 Rosenberg asserted that Cox was responsible for the bitter nature of the campaign, stating, "He started it with all those lies about est. We tried to take the high road."〔 Cox gained in pre-election polls after gaining powerful supporters including William F. Buckley, Jr., Oliver North and Robert Bork.〔 Cox won the June 7, 1988 Republican primary.〔 Irvine, California Councilman David Baker came in second in the primary, and Nathan Rosenberg came in "a distant third", after previously coming in second in pre-election polling. Cox received 31% of the vote, Baker 29%, and Rosenberg 18%. Cox went on to win the general election and become a member of the United States House of Representatives. In June 1988, police closed an investigation into alleged jamming of the Cox campaign's phone lines by supporters of Rosenberg. "For several weeks, about every third call we got was one of these bogus calls. You would hear a kind of whirring noise like a machine of some kind. ... It got so bad just before the election that we had to move our get-out-the vote operation to another office and use cellular phones in the field," said Cox's campaign manager Bob Schuman.〔 A representative of the police said that charges were not made because though the location of the jamming was traced, it could not be determined specifically which individuals were responsible.〔 "It's incredible to me that someone can do what was done to us and we have an absolute identification" of the location of the jamming, said Schuman.〔 "I can't speak for Chris, but I feel pretty strongly that we don't want to let them get away with it. We don't want to let it end here," he said.〔 Rosenberg denied knowledge about the phone jamming.〔 "I don't know anything about it. I don't want to speculate about who might have done this to Cox's phones, but I certainly don't condone it," said Rosenberg.〔 Rosenberg posited that the Cox campaign was requested police look into the matter as a tactic to discourage him from attempting a write-in-campaign against Cox in the November general election for Congress.〔 According to the Orange County Deputy District Attorney, the phone calls were traced to a residence owned by Rosenberg supporters.〔 The residence belonged to a developer and his wife who had each made donations of $1,000 to Rosenberg's campaign for Congress.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Werner Erhard & Associates v. Christopher Cox for Congress」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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