Campaign consultant DiSano hit with unprecedented settlement of defamation lawsuit

“These politicians are taught that if they’re running 

for office, they can say anything they want.

But that’s not how the First Amendment works. 

Politicians can and do distort an opponent’s 

record all the time, but you don’t 

try to destroy a person."

-- Attorney Al Addis

Here’s a story that may send shivers up the spines of some political consultants and candidates.

Joe Disano, a well-known Democratic campaign consultant, has agreed to a most unusual court settlement with former Macomb County commissioner Phil DiMaria to end a defamation lawsuit.

The 2012 suit was prompted by robo-calls placed by DiSano during DiMaria’s unsuccessful 2012 run for state House in the 18^th District  that essentially accused the Eastpointe Democrat of perversion.  The automated calls alleged that DiMaria was luring young women into his home to take “dirty pictures” of them.

A partner at Lansing-based Main Street Strategies, DiSano initially was convinced the suit would be tossed by the courts. But two years later he is now in the embarrassing position of executing a settlement that, in addition to an undisclosed cash payment to DiMaria, requires several actions on his part.

He must create and disseminate thousands of robo-calls to the 18^th District apologizing for the 2012 calls and alerting voters that the allegations against DiMaria were false. He must create and publish ads in print publications that similarly amount to an apology and a retraction. And here’s the strangest part: He must arrange for meetings with two lobbyists and make favorable comments to local media outlets if DiMaria runs for office again.

The robo-calls were loosely based on my news stories from 2002 about DiMaria’s association with a website that featured photos of nude women. But DiSano went a step further, mixing in some of the rumors flying around at the time that claimed DiMaria, whose hobby is professional photography on a part-time basis, was engaged in activities that were far from artistic.

I suspect his critics will be totally chagrined by DiMaria successfully playing the role of a victim of hardball politics.

At the time the lawsuit was filed, here is a portion of what I wrote:

The commissioner said he believes that the script of the campaign calls was based on a decade-old incident and not on recent activities. In December 2002, The Macomb Daily reported that a web page associated with DiMaria contained numerous photos of nude women.

The photos, posted on the website OneModelPlace.com, each contained DiMaria’s trademark but the commissioner said at the time that his two photography partners were responsible for the erotic material. Within hours of DiMaria being questioned by a Macomb Daily reporter, the photos were removed from the site.

DiMaria insists he did nothing wrong at the time and portrays the incident as an isolated matter. A Troy police officer at the time, his commanding officers conducted an internal investigation and found no unethical behavior, according to DiMaria.

He now insists he has never shot nude or semi-nude photos. However he posted a message on another photography website last year expressing interest in taking a class on nude photography.

In November 2011, an online “Meetup” message apparently sent by DiMaria, tagged with his standard business photo, said: “Hi David, just want you to know I am a longtime photographer and have shot nudes before, but it has been a long time. I know your class for the 27th is full but I would love to be included if there is any possibility.”

The “David” referred to in the message is a photographer from Pontiac, David Birdsong, who routinely offers workshops that feature female models and teach photographers how to shoot artistic nude photos. One of Birdsong’s websites contains almost exclusively nude and semi-nude photos of women.

Here is the news story my colleague, Jamie Cook, wrote for today’s paper about the settlement:

By Jameson Cook

The Macomb Daily

A political consultant who targeted a candidate with salacious and false allegations about nude photos of young girls will publicly and personally apologize for his actions and compensate the candidate with money and consulting services.

The unprecedented, lopsided outcome in Macomb County was reached to settle a lawsuit filed by former state representative candidate Phil DiMaria against Democratic political consultant Joe DiSano and the call’s narrator, Dan Sloan. The deal was formalized earlier this summer and will be executed in the coming weeks.

DiMaria’s attorney, Al Addis, said this week the slew of requirements made upon DiSano and Sloan were necessary in light of the untruthful, damaging remarks made in a June 2012 robo-call that went to about 5,000 homes during a political campaign. DiSano wrote the script, and Sloan narrated the call.

Newspaper articles were written about the calls, too.

“This was terrible and way out of line,” Addis said. “When you start accusing people of inmoral, criminal activity with underage people, that just doesn’t fly.

“He (DiMaria) got what he was looking for – a retraction and to get his name back.”

DiMaria’s reputation suffered tremendously, Addis said.

“People he knew would see him in the grocery store and turn their back after this came out,” Addis said.

The robo-calls were sent to homes in the state House’s 18th District in Eastpointe and St. Clair Shores where DiMaria, at the time a county commissioner from Eastpointe, was running in the Democratic primary against Sarah Roberts, who has not been tied to the calls. Roberts trounced DiMaria.

The narrator said DiMaria, a part-time photographer, “takes dirty pictures in his basement” and “uses the Internet to lure young girls into nude modeling sessions at his home,” according to court documents. The call ends: “Tell Phil DiMaria you’re disgusted with his filthy hobbies. Call DiMaria at … and tell him to get the head-doctor help he really needs.”

DiSano’s wild accusations spawned from DiMaria’s association with a web page a decade early that contained numerous photos of nude women. The photos were accompanied by DiMaria’s trademark but were the responsibility of two photography partners. The photos were removed from the site after DiMaria was contacted by a Macomb Daily reporter in December 2002.

DiMaria, who was a Troy police officer at the time, said two years ago an internal investigation cleared him.

DiMaria is a photographer but says he mostly shoots sporting events and musicians.

After losing the August 2012 primary, DiMaria sued for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and tortious interference with a business relationship or expectancy, in Macomb County Circuit Court in Mount Clemens. He said the calls damaged him personally and professionally.

Judge Mark Switalski in April denied DiSano and Sloan’s attempt to have the lawsuit tossed.

In the settlement, DiSano, a partner in Lansing-based Main Street Strategies, must perform a number of tasks, Addis said. According to Addis, DiSano is required to:

• conduct a robo-call campaign in the same area where the prior calls were made and must admit they allegations were “completely wrong and utterly incorrect,” Addis said.

• pay for and create, with DiMaria’s approval, a print advertisement that will appear in two publications and retract and apologize for the claims.

• personally meet with DiMaria’s wife and apologize.

• create five political ads and provide robo-calls for DiMaria

• arrange for meetings with two lobbyists and make favorable comments to local media outlets, if DiMaria runs for office again.

• pay Dimaria a sum of money; the amount is confidential.

DiSano and his attorney, Anthony DeLuca, did not return telephone messages Thursday.

Addis said DiMaria could have taken the case to trial and possibly gained a better settlement but decided “he wanted to move on with his life.”

Because he was a public figure, DiMaria at a trial would have had to prove that not only were the allegations false, but had to show malice by the defendants – they either knew the information was false or had a reckless disregard for the truth.

The three members of the facilitation panel all agreed DiMaria had a strong case, Addis said.

Addis said the deal provides “a great lesson in politics.”

“These politicians are taught that if they’re running for office, they can say anything they want,” he said. “But that’s not how the First Amendment works. Politicians can and do distort an opponent’s record all the time, but you don’t try to destroy a person."

Addis said they don’t know who hired DiSano, but that DiMaria is sure Roberts was not involved.

“My client suspects it may have been something personal,” Addis said. “He is convinced Miss Roberts had nothing to do with it.”

DiMaria did not return a phone message.

The robo-calls came about four months after DiSano was criticized by some for sending emails and making robo-calls to nearly 50,000 Democratic voters in Michigan asking them to vote for Rick Santorum in the presidential primary to try to derail Mitt Romney.