RECALL ATTORNEY KENDALL OBJECTS, SAYS HE’LL BOYCOTT
The Alaska Bar Association is being criticized by one of its members after securing notorious attorney Alan Dershowitz as its keynote speaker during its October convention, according to a report from KINY radio.
Dershowitz is scheduled to speak Oct. 30 a the convention’s dinner.
Scott Kendall, former chief of staff to former Gov. Bill Walker, isn’t happy. He said he and other members are going to contest the choice, but at the very least he is taking it to the court of public opinion.
Kendall told KINY he’s not concerned about the politics surrounding Dershowitz, who was also a lawyer for President Donald Trump during the impeachment trial. Kendall is irked by Dershowitz’ relationship with the late Jeffrey Epstein, the sexual predator who was apparently a close friend of Dershowitz.
“I understand that everyone is entitled to a criminal defense,” Kendall told KINY. “However, Mr. Dershowitz’s personal relationship with Epstein lasted many years. Not only did Mr. Dershowitz obtain a laughably weak sentence, considering his crimes, he also conducted himself abominably in his public statements. I have read quotes from Mr. Dershowitz referring to Epstein’s victims as ‘prostitutes’ and saying ‘they made their own choices.’ I’ve also seen Mr. Dershowitz quoted as saying the age of consent should be ‘no higher than 15 years of age.’ In a state like Alaska, where we are plagued by some of the highest rates of violence and sexual offenses against women and children, selecting Mr. Dershowitz to be honored as a keynote speaker is an absolute failure of judgment.”
“If the Bar Association does not change course, I will certainly not be attending any of their annual convention events. I suspect many other attorneys share my concerns and will do likewise,” Kendall said.
Last year’s keynote speaker was Mark Godsey, a leader of the “Innocence” movement who co-founded the Ohio Innocence Project, an organization that helped free 27 wrongfully convicted Ohioans who had collectively served more than 500 years in prison.
Kendall’s close associate, former Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth, was appointed as Gov. Walker’s top attorney after representing the Fairbanks Four, four men who served time for the savage beating death of a Fairbanks teenager. Lindemuth is involved in the Innocence Project movement and also has been involved with the Recall Dunleavy Committee with Kendall.
In 2011, about 20 Alaska lawyers walked out on keynote speaker John Yoo at the Alaska Bar Association dinner in Fairbanks. He was a Bush Administration, Korean-American attorney known for co-authoring what became known as the “Torture Memos,” which was the legal rationale for torture of detainees during the War on Terror.
Whether this year’s convention even meets in person is actually a question, according to Robert Stone, who is the outgoing president of the ABA. The board will meet soon to decide if the convention must go online or be canceled altogether, due to COVID-19.
“The board of governors is looking into the concerns raised by its members,” Stone told KINY. “I think that these were concerns that should be taken seriously. These are very serious allegations, there are very serious issues from the bar to consider, and so we are going to hold a special meeting to discuss a couple of issues pertaining to the convention. the first is whether, in light of COVID-19, we continue forward with planning an in-person convention.”
Dershowitz has won 13 of the 15 murder and attempted murder trials he ha handled and has represented clients such as boxer Mike Tyson, heiress Patty Hearst, and televangelist Jim Bakker. He successfully appealed the murder conviction of Claus von Bulow. On the O.J. Simpson trial, he was part of a defense team with F. Lee Bailey and Johnnie Cochran. He was part of the legal defense teams for sex offender Harvey Weinstein.
Good for Alan. Anything that pissed off the socialists is good. He is a Democrat but has been disowned by the far left.
I see… it was a typo that is now corrected. “Kendall is irked by Berkowitz’ relationship with the late Jeffrey Epstein, the sexual predator who was apparently a close friend of Dershowitz.” Well, I’m glad that I could help! Like I needed yet another reason to detest Ethan Berkowitz. LOL
So, here we go with the liberal activity of shutting down any dialog that doesn’t support the left agenda of socialist, Me too, BLM, change sports team names, kiss the great butt hurt population that can’t make it in the greatest country in the world, so they want to shut it down and destroy it. It is pretty damning when this becomes the primary focus of some at every occasion a conservative speaker is going to be at an event. If your mind is so closed then stay away. There is no mandate to attend, so Kendall should just go fishing and work on getting over his TDS.
Bob: Alan Dershowitz is far from conservative. He just happens to be a traditional liberal who believes in the Constitution and does not tromp all over it for political expediency. Which is why he was on Trump’s defense team and was widely misquoted by the media. He has found himself on the conservative side of several issues of late, despite being very liberal. Which is also why several prominent liberals have started calling today’s progressives leftists, instead of liberals. They don’t want to be associated with the inanity.
I was on the bar board when John Yoo was selected and approved. Also attended his presentation debate. Packed house.
If you want to have your ears tickled it becomes just entertainment. Controversial presentations usually reveal a side that most never consider; the content is a far better use of your time.
Kendall is a grandstander; needs to stop being a Karen.
FWIIW, I have been a member of the bar for almost forty years and have never attended a bar convention. I could care less if Mr. Kendall attends or not. Frankly, given the level that Mr. Kendall may be offended, I may break my record and attend to hear the speaker. Mr. Kendall needs to grow up and become an adult.
Best comment yet, JMark. I’m a member too. Kendall has some severe social problems. And, he seems to be entrenched with a political Left-wing family from Fairbanks. That, can have a profound effect on life’s navigation.
Well, the Alaska Bar Association wouldn’t want anyone addressing them who, like every member, isn’t lily white (oops, pure), under the current evaluation criteria of the hour.
SD, I don’t understand your use of the word “notorious” to describe Dershowitz. This term generally means to be famous for some bad deed. What might that be? Or am I not understanding your meaning in this case?
Regarding Kendall’s assertion that Dershowitz association with Epstein is troubling. I have to ask, what about Kendall’s relationship with Byron Mallott?
Also, regarding the “quotes” that Kendall attributes to Dershowitz with respect to “prostitutes” and the “age of consent”. As one would suspect, Kendall is playing fast and loose with the context of the op-ed where Dershowitz made his comment about the latter. See link: newsmax.com/alandershowitz/apnewsalert/2019/11/20/id/927994/
Lastly, I’m no fan of Dershowitz politics but I do respect his understanding of and many contributions to the law over several decades.
A group of Alaska attorneys is the last place to discuss members morals or ethics.
I, for one would love the opportunity to attend an event with Dershowitz as headliner. Have we really reached the point that crybabies become the rule makers?
Yep! That’s how it works in this city now. If one person doesn’t like a statue, or whatever the “protest of the day” is, and 700,000 other people are not “offended”, guess who wins? The Wendy whiner. Isn’t it funny how most of this crap never offended anyone at this time last year?
Using Mr. Kendall’s logic he himself is guilty by association since he worked with the former Mr. Mallott who evidently had some problems with women. Mr. Kendall should recuse himself from expression of any opinions that include women or women’s issues.
Nice point “older”. If we are all going to be condemned by associating with a bad actor at some point in our lives, we’d all be underground.
Point for you, “Gar”,
Mr. Dershowitz is, in no way, a bad actor. He is ‘guilty’ of common sense and agreeing with President Trump on a matter of significant legality. That makes the leftists mad. Dershowitz pretty much told them to shove it. To him, legality is not a political party. It’s the law. Couldn’t be a better choice for the Alaska bar association.
I’m absolutely certain that you went out in your street and danced the Funky Chicken when OJ got off.
Monkfellow,
I despise OJ, what he did and the fact that he walked. I never did go for those ‘funky’ dances.
I didn’t dance. I was happy that some dirty cops who planted evidence and a prosecutor with a weak case lost though.
I’m unhappy that a little worm like Scott Kendall is allowed to attend AK
Bar functions. He has disgraced himself immensely. When is his old boss, Bill Walker, coming out of hiding?
Well said!
Scott Kendall should know – or maybe he isn’t much of a lawyer – that a defense attorneys job and focus is their client. Most often, no one likes the tactics of a defense attorney, but they do what they do (within the confines of the law), to help their client. We might not like it, but darn straight if you ever need a defense attorney, you will want them to do whatever is legal to work in your favor. Put your mask back on “Karen” Kendall and shut your cake hole.
Scott Kendall is associated with Jahna Lindemuth, who represented the Fairbanks Four. This group is is described by Must Read Alaska as “four men men who served time for the savage beating death a Fairbanks teenager.” This description is confusing because it is could be interpreted to mean that the four did, in fact, kill a teenager. But even the most shameless journalist couldn’t report that. Imagine your teenage son was identified as being involved in a savage murder by another kid he hardly knew. It is later discovered that the tape recordings of the interrogations leading up to the false confession were destroyed by the Fairbanks Police Department. Imagine that the cops and prosecutors ignored evidence that pointed to other suspects, Including a man who testified in a court hearing years later how he (and others he identified by name), had murdered the Fairbanks teenager. Imagine if many other people testified that this same suspect had described how the beating happened. Imagine that the cops hid evidence which would have shown your son was not involved in the crime. Imagine that your son was innocent, and you knew your son was innocent. Imagine your son being in prison year after year for a crime he didn’t commit. Imagine everyone treating your son like a violent criminal, and treating you like the father of a murderer. Claims of innocence are scoffed at by everyone but your family, which has been devastated. Imagine that after serving 15 years in prison, a wealthy, successful lawyer from a large law firm agrees to represent your for free in an attempt to obtain justice. The lawyer is a woman. She puts together a team of first class lawyers and investigators to prove your son is innocent. The attorneys fees and costs to handle your son’s case exceed a million dollars. Imagine that the lawyer is Jahna Lindemuth. Imagine what it feels like when the government finally dismisses all charges against your son. Imagine what your son feels, after all those years in prison, when someone suggests he really is a murderer. And imagine the outrage when the Fairbanks Four go back to court and prove how their own government stole their most basic right — freedom. Why do we need that liberal gas bag Alan Dershowitz to discuss the joys of representing really rich people who murder and rape (start with OJ and Epstein), when the Alaska Bar has so many more heroic lawyers right down the street. Maybe that’s why people like Kendall have objected. Finally, please remember the wise words of our President: “My good friends Roger Stone and Michael Flynn were treated very unfairly by the dishonest prosecutors. Fortunately, that could never happen to a poor kid in Fairbanks.”
To be clear, to my knowledge, Mr. Kendall had nothing to do with representing the Fairbanks Four.
Four guys provide independent confessions to the police that they killed an innocent, 15-year old boy? Give me a break, fella. Guilty! Where is the compassion for the 15-year old boy?
You left out our President who was falsely charged.
Attorneys like Scott Kendall are the reason people believe most attorneys to be a slime-ball class of humans.
Let’s repeat the Scott Kendall story…….one more time. Jim Whitiker, former FNSB mayor, rode into Juneau with Bill Walker in 2014. Whitiker, who was no stranger to corruption, departed and was replaced by Scott Kendall, an inexperienced, two-bit attorney who was married to Luke Hopkins only daughter. Hopkins, also a FNSB mayor and radical Lefty, drew controversy in Fairbanks from 2010 to 2016 by initiating a civil war of sorts with his extreme regulatory demands on wood burning stoves while in a 40° below environment. Hopkins brother-in-law, David Guttenberg represented the most liberal, left-wing district in the State House. Guttenberg vacated his seat and it became ready-made for Grier Hopkins, Luke’s son. Between Bill Walker, Luke Hopkins, Jim Whitiker and Walker’s Lt. Governor, the push was strong to get Communist Chinese to invest in a major share of a proposed Alaska Gas Pipeline. The big benefactors would be the ports of Valdez, Fairbanks, and the North Slope Borough. It was a revenue pirating scheme to make these individuals wealthy. It didn’t happen!
Instead, the Communist Chinese backed-out, Bill Walker left office in disgrace and Scott Kendall ran the Recall on Dunleavy. The corrupt former governor Bill Walker still runs his Left-wing cabal from behind the scenes. Still in hiding. But he clevery uses his flunkies like Scott Kendall to do his bidding.
This Hopkins Family up there in Fairbanks sounds like the political Left-wing gangsters. Antifa?
They’re actually a bunch of pot growers and 60’s hippies who never grew up. They probably taught their kids that, and now their grandkids too. Life has a way of passing some folks in the dust.
Grier Hopkins is the House member in District 4 who must be beat. Kerber is the Republican candidate. Can Suzanne do a short story on this race?
Hopkins competition is a man named KERBER.
Wow…the twists & turns of limo -leftists in Alaska.
** Enjoyed the backgound & history of
these entitled elites.
Alan Dershowitz is one of America’s finest constitutional lawyers. We should be so lucky to have him speak before the Alaska Bar Association. If I was an attorney I wouldn’t miss this opportunity for all the tea in China. My kudos to the Bar Association.
Don’t give pedophiles a platform.
That comment, can get you caught up in a civil suit by none other than Alan Dershowitz.
I completely agree! Dershowitz not only was accused by two credible victims, but he himself gives us all the circumstantial evidence we need for some serious doubt about his innocence. He as argued to lower the age of consent. The only person on earth allowed to read his transcripts before publication was “Jeffrey,” his buddy, the person who may be the most prolific pedophile in American history. After reading the comments, it’s becoming clear why Alaska is the rape capital of the country. Alaskan men are neanderthals. Where else would men get mad that a twice accused (by credible witnesses) pedophile isn’t getting his chance to speak to them? Yikes! No wonder they can’t get women to move to their God awful state.
They all need to boycott if such an unethical lawyer is chosen, I wouldn’t waste my time because nothing he could say would interest me, he’s just a good liar for those who have money
Event canceled!
By order of the Democrat controlled AK Bar Assoc., No convention this year.
Reason:. Dershowitz too chummy with Trump?
No. Reason: Dershowitz has been twice accused of molestation of underage girls, backed by a lot of circumstantial evidence. His best buddy, the only person allowed to read his transcripts before publication, was “Jeffrey,” the most prolific pedophile of American history. Dershowitz has been to Pedophile Island several times, according the the flight logs which were released, which were only a quarter of the logs. He’s argued to lower the age of consent. Do you need any more circumstantial evidence to give you question about whether this man should be given any platform to speak to professionals? I know Alaska has a huge rape culture, but this is ridiculous. A bunch of grown adults mad because the scum of the earth isn’t allowed to speak to them. smh
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