Fortunately, California has a law that protects against attempts to deny or inhibit free speech. When it became increasingly clear that Wachter and Singer were incapable of admitting their initial legal screw-up, they faced the prospect of a countersuit under the state's SLAPP law from my Oakland-based legal team at the First Amendment Project www.thefirstamendmentproject.org .
With Wachter, Shriver, and perhaps Arnold having to make lengthy depositions, provide discovery documents, and eventually testify, a rushed settlement was worked out with my former bobblehead vendor's insurance firm to avoid further embarrassment.
Schwarzenegger somehow diverted at least $50,000 in shakedown funds from the insurance firm.
I objected to this sleazy self-dealing and refused to participate in such a settlement. If the original Schwarzenegger lawsuit had merit, then allow a judge and jury to decide. In the ultimate admission of their bogus case, they chose to drop the lawsuit against me.
But this is where hubris, greed, arrogance, and political inexperience of Wachter and Singer assuredly failed their client.
Instead of respecting the bobblehead sales' intended charitable cause, the Kristen Ann Carr Fund for Sarcoma Research www.sarcoma.com , Wachter and Singer chose to divert a 'significant amount' of the funds to Arnold's personal pet charity, Arnold's All-Stars.
They did so after first rejecting an option of establishing a new research or counseling program at the UCLA Cancer Center. They also rejected the option of donating funds to the Alzheimer's Association, a favored cause of Maria Shriver.
So why would Singer and Wachter reject those options? Of course, it's because by diverting funds to Arnold's All-Stars, Wachter controlled how the monies would be spent. He could make sure that a certain Beverly Hills trial lawyer's firm got paid.
So did the shakedown settlement funds end up in the pockets of Schwarzenegger's trial lawyer Marty Singer? Of course that's a hypothetical, unanswerable since the shakedown settlement agreement was sealed and made confidential.
So how could Arnold and Maria sign off on such a deal? Were they double-crossed by their close longtime advisors?
And just how did Arnold end up in a pink dress and high heels?
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