One week ago I was accosted at the Luxe Hotel by Seth Horowitz, an employee of the hotel. This occurred at a function for Henry Waxman. Mr. Horowitz stated that he was not ordered to harass me on direct orders from the Congressman, but tacitly admitted that his staff was not so innocent.
https://tygrrrrexpress.com/2009/08/worse-than-henry-waxman/
It has taken a week, but the truth is slowly coming out.
I dropped by the office yesterday after three phone calls last week went unanswered. I was there less than five minutes.
Later on that day, Henry Waxman’s District Director Lisa Pinto did call me back. She apologized for not being able to see me since she was on a conference call. I wanted the conversation to be cordial, so I immediately responded positively.
“Ms. Pinto, no need to apologize. I dropped by uninvited, I had every right to expect you to be busy doing your job. No harm done at all.”
She responded pleasantly enough before proving most unhelpful. Yet what little she blurted out inadvertently helped me connect several dots, before dumb luck helped me really tie this together.
She explained to me that she could not speak to me about the matter because I was a member of the media. All media inquiries or issues had to go through the communications director in Washington, DC.
I explained that I was not a member of the media, and that I had no idea where she got that. I told her that I was a stockbrokerage professional and private citizen that knew nothing about the entertainment industry.
She said that perhaps there was a mistake, and that she had given wrong information. However she was sure I was a professional blogger who blogged on other people’s sites.
At this point the light went off. I was not willing to lie, because getting to the truth through lying does not work for me. I explained that I was a professional finance guy, but not a professional journalist. I did blog on other sites from time to time, but mostly I only blogged on my own site with no compensation.
She stated that any blogging makes me a member of the media, which means that only the communications director can talk to me with regards to a meeting.
I told her that if she could discuss the issue with me on the telephone for 3-5 minutes, that would save us all some time of having to set up a meeting. She said she could not speak about the situation.
I then asked her if she could just listen and not say anything. She said she could not do that, and that everything had to flow through DC.
I call this football move the “Pinto Punt.”
I told her that even though I disagreed with the Congressman on issues, I wanted to handle this matter quickly and quietly. I was not interested in getting him in trouble, especially if he was innocent. Some conservatives want me to push this issue and try to make it a 2010 campaign issue.
That is not who I am or what I am about. I just want the truth. I offered to make any conversation off the record. Anybody who knows me knows that if somebody asks me to go off the record, I honor that.
All I asked is that I not be lied to or jerked around.
Seth Horowitz initially told me that he “knew all about me.” I had no idea what he meant.
Yet one week later, Lisa Pinto expressed her concern at my being a blogger.
I never told her I was one. How did she know this?
Since the event required registration, a background check could be run on each attendee.
Yet I do not blog under my real name. I go by the Tygrrrr Express.
I also pointed out to people that if my name was typed in on Yahoo or Google, I would not turn up for pages and pages. A jazz musician with the same name based out of San Francisco comes up first. He is probably pretty well known. So a search of turns up a saxophonist.
Or so I thought.
In the past, a Google search of me turned up nothing on the first few pages.
Yet somebody yesterday suggested I Google myself again, since I had not done so recently. To my astonishment, I came up before the saxophone player.
My stint writing for Andrew Breitbart on his site Big Hollywood was under my real name. Mr. Breitbart required this.
http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/
Another peson at the event that was harassed was Ari David. Ari David is actually running against Henry Waxman, but most likely Henry Waxman would not know this. He has a safe seat, and ignores potential opponents. However, Ari David does write for Big Hollywood as well.
Andrew Breitbart has been a fierce critic of Henry Waxman. It does tie together.
Yet I was never a passionate critic of the Congressman. I voted against him every two years, but never blogged about him. I was focused on the Presidential race.
I told Lisa Pinto that I wanted this resolved peacably, but it had to be resolved. She offered to put me in touch with the DC communications director, or she could contact him directly.
I told her that if she gave me her word she would follow up, I would be fine with that. After all, she did call me herself, even if it took a visit to the office to see some movement. Besides, if she lies, I can just call back. She gave me her word that he would contact me within a short amount of time.
I told her that I am Jewish, and that I know Congressman Waxman is Jewish as well. I wanted this resolved by Rosh Hashanah (September 19th) so that we could both start the year fresh. She laughed, and said that this was an interesting deadline. I told her that I did not want a quarrel with a fellow Jew, even one I disagreed with. My beef with the Congressman has always been political, never personal.
She promised that I would be contacted well before then.
Seth Horowitz did not act in a vacuum. As soon as the owner of the Luxe Hotel gets back in town, I will have a polite conversation with him. I have already emailed him. I will also be writing a letter to the West LA Chamber of Commerce, who hosted the event and has Mr. Horowitz as a member.
Yet Mr. Horowitz did not act on his own. He has no reason to do so. Harassing hotel patrons is bad for business. Yet he “knew about me.” He all but overtly admitted that Henry Waxman’s staff started this chain of events. Lisa Pinto knew I was a blogger. The event required registration.
In legal terms, this is a case with strong circumstantial evidence.
What did Henry Waxman know, and when did he know it? Did he give the order?
If not, who on his staff needs to be reined in or fired for convincing a hotel thug to violate my civil rights and civil liberties?
Drip by drip, droplet by droplet, the levee of lies is slowly starting to collapse.
I will get to the truth. Count on it.
eric
And I’ll bet you could find out that this form of “registration” has been going on at a lot of dem functions where its in the interest of pre screening patrons for a favorable crowd. I mean, I dont doubt anyone does it, today they’d have to be fools not to. But the over zealous doorman act has to go.
I would of made a scene, the publicity wouldnt of been all bad, you’d of sold an awful lot of books
Eric,
Imus signing with Fox Business News. No comment from the FCC Diversity Czar.
http://youhavetobethistalltogoonthisride.blogspot.com/2009/09/breaking-imus-signs-with-fox-business.html
Micky, the GOP does the same sort of stuff all the time. It’s bipartisan nonsense.
I think our good host was probably checked, which in todays political climate, at invitation event, is perfectly understandable. I don’t think his civil rights were at all violated, but I believe he was abused. What may have happened, given the timing of these events, is that they tracked down his blog and read that piece on Ted Kennedy. If you read most of our good hosts posts, though he sometimes may be a little snarky (“Pelosiraptor,” “Jason Blair Times”…), he’s quite civil, encourages open and civil debate, and prides himself in his demeanor and ability to separate the politics from the personal. It would be ashame if that one rather disconcerting rant of a post about the late Senator was the cause of all this. Even I, if I was with the Waxman camp, if I had read that post to make a determination of Eric’s potential behavior, would have been very leery of our good host.
Just the same, all they would have had to do was be honest with Eric, and the matter would never have gotten so ugly. If Mr. Horowitz had simply walked up to our good host, shaken his hand, told him that they checked on everyone at the event and that they were concerned about some of Eric’s writings and whether that reflected any bad intentions he may have, Eric would have, I’m sure, politely assured him that the particular post was not the sum of his personality and that he prides himself in his character and they had nothing to worry about. But essentailly threatening someone and making cryptic remarks like “we know about you” is never going to make for a good situation. It was very poorly handled on their end.
JMJ
Hey Jersey.
Did you read the part where I said “I dont doubt anyone does it, today they’d have to be fools not to ” ?
So that kind sinks your refutal to me, doesnt it ?
Or were you just looking for a reason to hear yourself say whats already been said in the last 3 posts on this issue ?
jeez
Eric should of raised bloody hell.
He’d be millionaire today probably selling and signing books in their stinking lobby
Oh, sorry Micky, I misread it.
JMJ