Ricki Seidman, coordinator of Clarence Thomas hit job, now advising Kavanaugh accuser

Cillian Zeal
Western Journal
Sat, 22 Sep 2018 20:08 UTC

Former Clinton advisor Ricki Seidman (L), Anita Hill (R)

When NeverTrump pundit Erick Erickson suggested that the accusation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh by Christine Blasey Ford was the result of a PR job, there was both laughter and disdain from the left.

There isn't much mirth or contempt now that it's been revealed who Judge Kavanaugh's accuser has retained.

According to Politico, Christine Blasey Ford - the 51-year-old California psychologist who says the Supreme Court nominee sexually assaulted her while they were in high school in Maryland - is receiving advice from Democrat activist Ricki Seidman.

"Seidman, a senior principal at TSD Communications, in the past worked as an investigator for Sen. Ted Kennedy, and was involved with Anita Hill's decision to testify against Supreme Court Nominee Clarence Thomas," Politico reported.

"She also worked as Joe Biden's communications director during the 2008 general election campaign, after he was named Barack Obama's running mate. In 2009, according to her online biography, she helped the White House manage the confirmation of Obama's Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Before that, she worked in the Clinton White House as deputy communications director," the report said.

And that's not all. When President Ronald Reagan appointed Judge Robert Bork to the nation's highest court, Seidman played a key role helping kill the appointment.

"As legal director for Norman Lear's People for the American Way, she was responsible for the infamous attack-ad on the judicial record of Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork," The Weekly Standard reported in 1996.

"She next moved to Senator Edward Kennedy's office shortly after Clarence Thomas was nominated to the Supreme Court, and she is credited with pressuring the reluctant Anita Hill to come out with her harassment story. When the Judiciary Committee failed to listen, according to David Brock's The Real Anita Hill, Seidman helped leak the story to the press."

That's a lot of juice - but, according to the Politico report, Seidman was merely "brought in to offer personal advice to Ford, a California-based psychologist who has no experience living in the spotlight of a national story, or in the crosswinds of Washington politics."

"I believe her and I think she's very courageous for coming this far," Seidman said.

But - of course - this isn't linked to any wider effort on the part of the Democrats, and they're trying very hard to assure you that any evidence to the contrary is just a filthy lie.

"Democratic operatives in Washington, D.C. have been cautious about linking Ford and her claims to partisan activists working on her behalf over concerns about further politicizing an already complicated case," Politico reported.

"(Ford) didn't come at this through anyone political and needs to keep her distance from it," one party apparatchik is quoted as saying.

Of course.

"I think over the coming days and weeks there will be a strategy that will emerge, and I think that strategy will ultimately defeat the nominee. (3:20) -- Ricki Seidman, conference call in early July 2018

It's impossible not to notice that Ford's story has had the most carefully controlled of rollouts, designed to do maximum damage to Kavanaugh's reputation while maintaining the possibility that the filling of Justice Anthony Kennedy's soon-to-be-vacant seat might happen after the November midterms and even after a new Congress is sworn in.

Like finding a watch on the beach is an argument for an intelligent watchmaker behind it, so such a precise rollout of an allegation seems to imply someone behind the precision of that rollout.

Attorneys Debra Katz and Lisa Banks have been in the news advocating on Ford’s behalf.

Are we truly to believe that, after confirmation hearings for a Supreme Court nominee wrapped up, the existence of Ford's letter just happened to get leaked and that things built to the point where she just so happened to come forward in the Sunday edition of The Washington Post?

And lo and behold - it's just like the Anita Hill case 27 years ago! But the fact that one of the architects of that circus is involved (again) shouldn't make you think there's any coincidence. Ford "didn't come at this through anyone political," and don't you forget it. She just has a lot of political people around her (like two prominent Democrat attorneys, for instance).

And also forget about the fact that one of the principals during the Anita Hill hearings at one of the most powerful firms in Washington is just being brought in to offer her services in a case suspiciously like the same one she was involved in 27 years ago that tried to torpedo a Supreme Court nomination. Simply a coincidence. And I'm also sure Ford won't be discarded by the left the same way Hill was after she served her purpose.

I'm not saying this was the work of a PR agency, the same way Erick Erickson did. But given all of this, would you be surprised if it were?

Comment: Politico further remarks:

Even though Democrats have purposefully proceeded cautiously with Ford, the news that she is working with an experienced political operative was interpreted by Republicans close to the process as a sign that Democrats are trying to leverage the accusation to derail the Kavanaugh confirmation process.

"This feels more like a Democratic super PAC than a legal effort to get at the truth," said a senior Republican official of Seidman's role working with Ford.

"If you're concerned about an appearance of partisanship, hiring a Democratic operative with a history of smearing conservative judges doesn't exactly mitigate that," said Cassie Smedile, press secretary for the Republican National Committee.