Peter Schorsch Brags on Facebook

My good friend Peter Schorsch has posted this wonderful message on Facebook. Apparently, the Pinellas Sheriff's Office has dismissed the complaint Michael Pinson filed against Schorsch. My dear friend is wondering why The Tampa Bay Times hasn't patted Schorsch on the back. It might be because The Times has a highly negative view of Schorsch. Adam Smith wrote this about Schorsch.

Still, for his very campaign event Crist turned to Scorsch who routinely and unapologetically lies publicly to the press, who owes nearly $68,000 in outstanding fines to the Florida Elections Commission, who six years pleaded no contest to grand thef and scheming to defraud charges. Really?

Ouch.

Schorsch has written highly negative blog posts about conservative activist Michael Pinson. Schorsch then asked Pinson for payment to remove these posts. It is all in the Florida Bar complaint Pinson filed against Schorsch's former attorney Paul Phillips.

The document below contains messages between Pinson and Phillips on the removal of posts. Phillips even claimed that Schorsch would delete a negative post about him on Pushing Rope. The post was later deleted after it was discovered in the Florida Bar complaint that Schorsch, Phillips and their friend Chris Kapper were sources of a negative WTSP story. From the Bar complaint.

“I did provide the information in that email to my client [Peter Schorsch], and any news stories which occurred based on that information, complaints filed with the State of Florida, were done by my client and Channel 10 News Personnel.”- Paul Phillips, Florida Bar Complaint, TFB No.: 2013-10,093 (13E)

There is no law against Schorsch writing negatively against Pinson and then seeking payment to remove the post. I don't know another blogger who would even consider doing such a thing. Libel is a hard thing to proof in a court of law. Ironically, Schorsch has repeatedly threatened me with libel suits. If Schorsch having a criminal investigation against dismissed is a victory then he can knock himself out. To me it seems like a hollow victory.

Phillips - Additional Info - Part 1 by Michael Robert Hussey

The Peter Schorsch Files

This is the Florida Bar complaint documents that Michael Pinson filed against Peter Schorsch's attorney Paul Phillips. The complaint was dismissed. Phillips admitted in a written statement that they were two off-the-record sources for very questionable hit piece story by Noah Pransky of WTSP. Pransky is friends with Schorsch and Phillips. Peter Schorsch has a criminal history. Pransky should be asked why he would trust the word of someone with Schorsch's troubled history.

Phillips - Additional Info - Part 2 by Michael Robert Hussey

Object_3B7792_0 by Michael Robert Hussey

Object 348D1E 0 by Michael Robert Hussey

Peter Schorsch's Criminal History

Michael Pinson listed Peter Schorsch's wonderful criminal history in his bar complaint against attorney Paul Phillips. The complaint was dismissed but there is wonderful information in the complaint.

Schorsch has been cited for numerous criminal and civil wrong doings over the past five years. He has nine Civil Judgments against him and two criminal arrests with time being served.

Why anyone political figure would hire Schorsch as a political consultant is beyond me.

SaintPetersGate Redux

Peter Schorsch sent me an email claiming that his former attorney Paul Phillips made no statement to the Florida Bar Association. So I am to believe that Pinson lied to the Florida Bar about Phillips making a sworn statement to the Florida Bar. That doesn't pass the laugh test. Conservative blogger Javier Manjarres found this gem in the Florida Bar complaint.

“I did provide the information in that email to my client [Peter Schorsch], and any news stories which occurred based on that information, complaints filed with the State of Florida, were done by my client and Channel 10 News Personnel.”- Paul Phillips, Florida Bar Complaint, TFB No.: 2013-10,093 (13E)

I saw this same statement by Phillips in a document leaked to me. When I asked Schorsch and Phillips about the leaked document they threatened me with a libel suit. It is no secret that Schorsch dislikes Conservative activist Michael Pinson. It is no secret that Schorsch will go after people who don't support Charlie Crist. According to Pinson in the complaint, he dropped his support for Crist and supported Marco Rubio's Senate campaign. It wouldn't surprise me if that is how the feud actually started.

My interest in the Florida Bar complaint was the media angle. Noah Pransky is friends with Schorsch, Phillips and Chris Kapper. Pransky used three men who were friends and disliked Pinson. Adam Smith of accused Schorsch of being a serial liar to the media. The fact that Pransky would use Schorsch as a source for the Pinson story should be called into question.

There is also the allegations by Tampa politicians that Schorsch threatened to keep writibg negative posts on SaintPetersBlog if they didn't pay a for an ad on the blog. Pinson wad one of the people presented with a contract. The contract was negotiated on Schorsch's behave by Phillips. The contract presented to Pinson is part of a Pinellas Sheriff's Office investigation into Schorsch.

Peter Schorsch is a disgrace to political blogging and represents everything that is bad about politics. Schorsch needs to be disappear from blogging and politics forever. If Schorsch is still working as a shadow agent for the Charlie Crist campaign then Crist needs to come clean. If not then Crist's judgment is called into question.

Peter Schorsch Has No Control Over Pushing Rope

This is from a text message Paul Phillips sent to Michael Pinson. There was talk about deleting the Noah Pransky story from this blog. I am not sure how Peter Schorsch planned to pull that off.

PHILLIPS: Peter is reviewing now. He has no control over pushing rope however, but we can check.

Please do. Pinson ended up never signing the contract. The Tampa Bay Times reported that notarized and signed by Schorsch.

Breaking: Florida Bar Complaint Proves Schorsch & Phillips Source For WTSP Story

Here it is boys and girls. The Florida Bar complaint proves that Paul Phillips and Peter Schorsch were off-the-record sources for Noah Pransky's WTSP negative hit piece on the Michael Pinson Foundation. Phillips admitted under oath that both Schorsch and him were sources for the WTSP story.

The bar complaint itself was dismissed. It is not illegal for Peter Schorsch and Paul Phillips to talk to the media. What should be noted is Schorsch has been accused of repeatedly lying to the media by Adam Smith of Tampa Bay Times.

Still, for his very campaign event Crist turned to Schorsch who routinely and unapologetically lies publicly to the press, who owes nearly $68,000 in outstanding fines to the Florida Elections Commission, who six years pleaded no contest to grand thef and scheming to defraud charges. Really?

Pinson claimed in the Florida Bar complaint that Noah Pransky attended Schorsch's wedding. Pransky would not answer that on-the-record. I asked Schorsch if he knew Chris Kapper. Schorsch would not comment. Kapper made an on-the-record claim that Pinson was using charity money to host hot tub parties. No second source verified this story in Pransky's new piece. Schorsch is Facebook friends with Kapper.

Kapper thanked Pransky for his "activism on Facebook. I have no idea of the context of the quote.

In the Florida Bar complaint Schorsch and Phillips admit to knowing Kapper.

There is a lot more in the complaint but it is obvious that the WTSP story is garbage.

Paul Phillips Freaks Out On Twitter

Hey kids, Paul Phillips, the attorney threatening to sue me for libel, is in the middle of a flame war on Twitter.

@PaulPhillipsEsq @pushingrope @JohnPContiTPA I want your document, with typos #yougetwhatyoupayfor

— Javier Manjarres (@THESHARKTANK1) December 3, 2013

The flame war is still going on. Phillips says he is willing to give the Florida Bar complaint to anyone who stops by his office. I remember this less than friendly email from Phillips.

Based on an emaeil I received, I thought a few things should be made clear.

Pinson’s bar complaint against me was dismissed with no probable cause and remains, therefore, confidential within the bar system. Providing the contents to any person outside the system opens those individuals up to lawsuits. Because Mr. Pinson’s com"plaint was filled with untruths and lies, any publishing of such document would be actionable. I can ensure you I will use all avenues available to me should any unsubstantiated accusation of that complaint be used in any form.

Now I get this email from Phillips.

If you wanted the bar complaint and my response, just ask. Instead, you take the path all bloggers take and try to make something out of nothing, try to create some appearance of impropriety, and end up defaming an attorney with a clean record. That is just uncool. I have tried to be reasonable here.

My address is below. Call before you come and I can have copies made for you. You just have to post my response, and make it very clear that the complaint was dismissed for no probable cause because the accusations had not merit. That is the issue with defamation. Not spelling errors (which came from your bad copy paste and not from my email).

By posting one side of a complaint - that was dismissed without merit - and not clearly stating that it was dismissed, is irresponsible and the courts will find on my side (I have case law that shows it pretty clear). As a blogger who asserts that he is media, I can give you some free legal advice here. If you know the whole story, or have been given credible evidence contradicting a source, then you have to show both sides. Otherwise, you are open to lawsuits. What most people don’t realize is that lawsuits last a very long time, a year or more, and are very expensive, and any lawyer will want to get paid along the way for their work. I see bills all day long and they are 5 figures.

Again, I have been very reasonable, but your responses to my emails and posts about them have been irresponsible. Either you are not reading these emails in their entirety, or you are purposely taking things out of context to draw readership or something. I don’t know.

I seem to remember reading that part about Phillips threatening to sue me if I published any part of the Florida Bar complaint. Perhaps Phillips has a different definition of "reasonable" than I do. I think I am going to pass on that offer of legal advice. Phillips has threatened to sue for for libel. One of the reasons is pointing out the typos in his email.

Additionally, besides being sent with a disclaimer explaining that the November 22, 2013 email was to remain confidential, you posted an incorrect version of the November 22, 2013 email. The email sent to you does not contain the errors shown in your post. Instead, your post states:

The email with typos is posted above and here. Is Phillips serious? I still have the email. This will be laughed out of court.

What I am investigating is the WTSP story about the Michael Pinson Foundation and the accusations that Peter Schorsch pressured political official into paying for positive coverage on SaintPetersblog. Phillips was Schorsch's attorney for these contracts. Phillips told me in an email that no longer represents Schorsch. The Tampa Bay Times broke the story. Pinson was one of the people that told TBT about the contract he never signed. Phillips drew up the contract.

What kind of guy is Phillips. Phillips fire off this tweet at Javier Manjarres' Hispanic heritage.

you need to go back to mowing lawns buddy. Rhetoric not your thing. Partial truths, red herrings, ad hominems. Wow.

@THESHARKTANK1 you need to go back to mowing lawns buddy. Rhetoric not your thing. Partial truths, red herrings, ad hominems. Wow.

— Paul Phillips (@PaulPhillipsEsq) December 3, 2013

Pathetic.

GOP Consultant Peter Schorsch Threatens Me With Libel Lawsuit

I continue to get threatened by Peter Schorsch and his attorney Phillips. Schorsch sent this email to me.

I am going to share with you ... the cover letter which clearly shows the proposed settlement came from Pinson's attorney not mine.

With this, you will be informed that what you have said to date is clearly wrong and, in our opinion, defamatory and libelous.

Therefore, you should delete any post or Tweet that is counter to the fact that Pinson initiated contact or you will be subject to a legal proceeding.

Michael, on a personal level, you have backed the wrong horse here. I truly suggest you look at your work and clean it up before Monday because that's when the legal action gets underway.

Please govern yourself accordingly.

Michael Pinson and several other Florida political officials told the  Tampa Bay Times that Schorsch told then he would stop writing negative posts and deleting negative posts if they would pay a financial fee. TBT Reported that Schorsch came to Pinson with the contract.

The reinvigorated criminal inquiry into Schorsch stems from accusations made by Pinson, a Republican activist who over the last three years Schorsch has frequently criticized and mocked online. Pinson supplied a contract to the Times that Schorsch had presented him in May 2012. In it, Schorsch requested that Pinson pay him $3,200 in order for the blogger to delete all references to Pinson from his websites —and to write nothing more about him for the following three years.

The contract called for a $1,000 bonus if anything Schorsch wrote about Pinson didn't appear in the first 30 online search results.

The contract is notarized and signed by Schorsch. The Times met with the notary, who confirmed its legitimacy.

There was this gem from the TBT article.

More than a half-dozen people contacted by the Times declined to comment on Schorsch, esveral saying they feared retribution.

A source backed to me the TBT account of that Schorsch approached Pinson. I have posted the contract. You can see that Schorsch signed the contract and Pinson did not. One has to ask if this was Pinson's idea then why didn't he sign the contract.

I have asked Schorsch and his attorney Paul Phillips about a possible deposition that reveals if they were off-the-record sources of a negative WTSP story against Pinson. I also asked if a deposition relating the the WTSP story existed. The result was Phillips threatening me in a poorly written email. I am confused. If no depostion took place with the Florida Bar Association then why is Phillips threatening me with a lawsuit.  I tried to confirm with Phillips if a document I saw was a deposition and get an on-the-record comment.

It should be noted that Schorsch and Phillips did not offer a comment to me if they were off-the-record sources in the highly negative WTSP story about the Michael Pinson Foundation. Schorsch and Phillips would not say on-the-record if they knew Chris Kapper. No second source backed Kapper's allegation in the WTSP story. Kapper has worked with Phillips on activities relating to the Republican Party of Hillsborough County Board.

I will fact-check the document Schorsch sent me. I am not going to take Schorsch's word at face value. Schorsch has previously pleaded no contest to grand theft and was fined by the Florida Elections Commission for $64,000.

Update: the post was corrected to reflect that Schorsch pleaded no contest to grand theft. My Blogger app didn't upload the corrected post last night.

Peter Schorsch Contract Drawn Up For Michael Pinson

This is the contract that conservative activist Michael Pinson said Peter Schorsch and his attorney drew up for Pinson. Pinson was quoted in the Tampa Bay Times article about Schorsch titled "Cash for coverage? Questions arise about local political blogger Peter Schorsch."

Schorsch said his attorney drew up the contract but said it was at Pinson's request. Schorsch said the activist had repeatedly harassed him and his family.

He said he offered the deal "just so this insane lunatic of a person would go away."

Pinson, who was mentioned for an open Pinellas congressional seat, said he didn't pay Schorsch, and the attacks continued. Just three months later, in a Twitter exchange with someone Schorsch seemed to believe Pinson knew, Schorsch said this: "Tell Michael I said hi. Just think for 5K he could've made all of this go away. Wait till u see 'The Douchebag Returns' story."

Schorsch's idea of doing Pinson a favor and making him go away was to have Pinson pay Schorsch $3,200.00. That is an interesting concept of who is doing who a favor. Hey, I would be doing you a favor if I took $3,200.00 of your money.

Below is the contract Schorsch and his attorney drew up for Pinson. Pinson told TBT that he never signed the contract. Pushing Rope and Ybor City Stogie are mentioned in the contract. To make matters clear. Pushing Rope has no involvement with Peter Schorsch.

Peter Schroch Demand Agreement for $4000 by Michael Robert Hussey

Did Peter Schorsch Plant False Story About Michael Pinson Charity

A source told me that Peter Schorsch planted a false story to Noah Pransky, of WTSP, about Michael Pinson's charity. I blogged about Pinson's charity and now question the source of Pransky's story.

.@noahpransky I have a question about who was your source for the Michael Pinson charity story. I have been told it is Peter Schorsch. True?

— Michael Hussey (@pushingrope) November 19, 2013

Do me a favor and politely ask Pransky on Twitter who was the source of his story on Pinson's charity. WTSP did report on Pinson's charity helping out after the storm hit Haiti. I don't know Pinson personally but after recent events I feel it is best to delete my post on Pinson's charity and question the who the source of Pransky's story is. My apologies to the people involved with the Michael Pinson Foundation.

Update: I sent a second tweet to Pransky.

.@noahpransky Nothing personal but I am not going off the record on this. Who was your source. If this person burned you than why protect?

— Michael Hussey (@pushingrope) November 19, 2013

Background: yesterday I blogged about Schorsch being investigated for payola accusations of writing favorable posts and deleting negative posts, if politicos would pay for advertising on SaintPetersblog.

Pinson Complaint Against Schorsch

I wrote earlier that Peter Schorsch has made his share of enemies. Michael Pinson filed a complaint with the Hillsborough County Republican Party against Peter Schorsch. Pinson is urging HCRP chair Deborah Cox-Roush to not allow Schorsch to work on Republican campaigns. Pinson also dredges up Schorsch's past legal troubles.

Another interesting tidbit is Chris Ingram ran Pinson's e-mail on his blog. Schorsch and Ingram have been feuding over I'm not sure what. Neither is Benjamin Kirby. This is all very inside baseball.

Below is the Pinson e-mail.

Read more »