CongressionalBadBoys.com | home | McDermott James A. McDermott Democrat, Washington (1989-present) Update, April 1, 2008:  Hey, no April fool's joke here.  U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Hogan ruled that McDermott must pay $1,053,181 plus $520,761 in interest to Boehner. Undeterred, McDermott said it was "worth every penny":  "While the amount of damages assessed in this case is significant, I submit," said McDermott, "that defending the First Amendment is beyond measure and worth every penny."  The Honorable Jim McDermott has been involved in a eight-year legal battle with The Honorable John Boehner, the Republican Majority Leader.  The fight is over an intercepted telephone call;  and the big winners are, of course, the lawyers.  Ooooh!! $1.5 million hurts twice as much! The U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a lower federal court ruling:  McDermott must pay Boehner $700,000, which included $60,000 in damages and $600,000 in legal fees.  At issue is a Republican conference call in December 1996.  Boehner was on vacation in Florida, and used his cell phone from a restaurant parking lot.  A Florida couple intercepted the conversation with a scanner, handed it to McDermott, and McDermott leaked it to the New York Times.  In the taped conversation, according to the transcript, the Honorable Newt Gingrich was directing Republican lawmakers on how to react to ethics charges.  Gingrich was doing this on the same day he promised not to coordinate a response. [See Newt's own ethics page, for the nine times he was hauled before that committee]. McDermott could have got off a lot cheaper.  Boehner says he offered twice in the past few years to drop his lawsuit if McDermott would agree that he was wrong in getting the tape and handing it over to the newspaper and would donate $10,000 to charity.  McDermott refused.  Now, the ante is up to $700,000. McDermott's thinking about appealing the ruling.  "The American people have a right to know when their government's leaders are plotting to deceive them, and that is exactly what was happening" during the taped call, he said. [See McDermott's earlier appearance before the House Ethics Committee]. Update:  At the end of 2006, the House Ethics Committee rebuked McDermott for leaking the illegal taped phone call between Republicans a decade earlier.  The Committee said McDermott didn't violate congressional rules of conduct, but stated that a Member must behave "in a manner which shall reflect creditably on the House of Representatives."  Check out the Ethics Committee Report:  http://www.house.gov/ethics/McDermott_Report_Cover.htm Sources:  Christopher Lee, "Court Rules Against Democrat in Leak of Tape," Washington Post, March 30, 2006, 21;  Matthew Daly, "McDermott:  Taping not Personal," Washington Post, April 1, 2006. CQ Today, "Court Orders Rep. McDermott to Pay Boehner More than $1 Million," April 1, 2008.