► Columbus Monthly - July 2002 - Letters to Editor Print

 

Columbus Monthly Magazine
         
07/20/02
Letters
Palmer
 
 
After reading your article about David Palmer, the legally self-educated gentleman who has taken on members of the legal establishment, I was very pleased [Law: "The transformation of David Palmer"-May].
 
It is not just lawyers who utilize the protections of law to secure power, wealth or authority. Doctors and police authorities-among others-have similarly tried to create unassailable fortresses of authority, to the detriment of everyone else. But when attorneys use the law for the benefit of themselves or their firms, the result is more insidious, because they directly benefit from the legal language they create. Truly, there is a conflict of interest built within the very structure of our governmental system.
 
I say that as long as David Palmer is operating with the constraints of the law, complaints that his actions constitute "a vendetta" are irrelevant. The legal system may have shown little regard for justice when it eviscerated his family-financially and otherwise. It is not surprising that some people don't take such things lying down. The fact that Palmer is using the legal system to fight back against what he sees as injustice is only fitting, as he is playing a game using their rules. If they complain about that, they are just whining.
 
The nerve of those who accused him of "impersonating an attorney"! As if it should be illegal to dare to discuss issues of law without a law degree. Does anyone really believe that Palmer, who probably despises most attorneys, was actually claiming to be one?
 
I hope Palmer will use compassion and a true respect for justice when he chooses his battles and his strategies. And I hope that he can make a dent in the self-serving superstructure that our legal system has become.
 
Mark Brunner
Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania
 
 
David Palmer is a true hero for his work in exposing corruption in the judicial system and pressuring public officials to clean it up. Sadly, few attorneys have spoken out about these problems, despite the oath they took to uphold the law.
 
Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, who shows in his book Supreme Injustice how five US Supreme Court "justices" stole the 2000 presidential election, asserts: "It is widely known that many state court judges play favorites among litigants and lawyers….[P]ersonal favors are quietly stored and exchanged. I have seen it with my own eyes…." He also warns that these judges will concoct bogus legal arguments to justify improper decisions and to camouflage the real reasons for their actions.
 
The victims of this bias and corruption are often innocent members of the public, who looked to the courts for justice but were betrayed by the politics, cronyism, incompetence, selfishness and other sordidness that often beset the judiciary.
 
Few members of the legal profession have advocated improvements in the system. Palmer deserves the thanks and respect of the public for doing what most attorneys, judges and other public officials seem unwilling to do.
 
Joseph C. Sommer
Columbus
 
 
 
Your May article "The transformation of David Palmer" provides an excellent and very detailed portrait of a man who has dedicated himself to fighting for everyone to have a fair and just chance when they have to turn to the courts of Ohio. It has been an uphill battle, but Mr. Palmer certainly has shown all of us what determination can do against a system that is determined to keep its old corrupt ways and line the pockets of those who like the old corrupt ways.
 
For those of you who had a duty to fight for a fair and just system and did not do it, shame on you. For those of you who knew of the corrupt ways and didn't speak out, let your voices be heard. So far there's only been a few lone singers (David Palmer being the voice that carried the loudest) out of fear of retaliation. Offer your voice and there will eventually be a choir.
 
Ruth Costakos
Columbus