In trying to clear her name, Jean Schmidt might have created more problems for herself. Schmidt defamation suit in 3rd year

For Rep. Jean Schmidt, there are certain campaign slurs she simply won’t tolerate — even if it means staying mired in politically treacherous territory as a legal battle she launched drags into its third year.

The Republican congresswoman has filed a $6.8 million defamation lawsuit against her two-time opponent David Krikorian, involving a mine field of an issue: the historical debate over the World War I-era mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, now Turkey.


Schmidt alleges Krikorian falsely accused her of accepting campaign cash from the Turkish government in exchange for her opposition to a 2007 congressional resolution that would have formally recognized the deaths of nearly 1.5 million Armenians as genocide.

Krikorian, who owns a Cincinnati-based company that manufactures novelty playing cards and has never held elected office, expressed surprise at the fight he finds himself in with the third-term congresswoman.

“No one wants to be sued. I may be the only private citizen being sued by a member of Congress,” he said. “I’m unclear as to why they brought these suits, as are a lot of people. … She’s doing me for $6.8 million. That’s a lot more than I have.”

The legal wrangling dates back to 2009, when Schmidt filed a complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission over a controversial flier Krikorian distributed during the closing days of the 2008 race. The flier claimed the Turkish government bribed Schmidt with “blood money” for her opposition to the congressional resolution. The panel formally reprimanded Krikorian for making false statements.

Schmidt later filed the defamation lawsuit against Krikorian in Ohio state court, seeking damages and arguing that he continued to accuse her of accepting funds from the Turkish government even after the commission deemed the charge false.

Krikorian acknowledges the Armenian killings are an unusual campaign issue — there are, he says, few Armenian-Americans living in the southern Ohio-based 2nd District. But Krikorian, who is Armenian-American and whose grandparents survived the mass killings, said he has the right to talk about what he sees as Schmidt’s cozy relationship with the Turkish lobby. Krikorian insists Schmidt is a “puppet,” and he’s even created a website, SchmidtvKrikorian.com, that presents legal documents central to the case.

“It all boils down to the Turks seeing a budding Armenian politician who would recognize the Armenian genocide in Congress, and they’re trying to keep him out,” said Krikorian. “I don’t think it’s more complicated than that.”

To Schmidt’s backers, however, Krikorian’s attacks amount to a false and defamatory attack from a political opponent accusing her of acting as an agent of a foreign government. Her supporters argue that Schmidt’s decision to oppose congressional recognition of the Armenian genocide was her own — one she made well before she ever received contributions from the Turkish lobby.

“This is not an act of aggression,” Bruce Fein, a veteran Washington attorney and resident scholar at the Turkish Coalition of America who has worked on Schmidt’s legal efforts, said of the lawsuit. “It’s self-defense.”

But in trying to clear her name, Schmidt might have created more problems for herself. The Office of Congressional Ethics has reportedly launched an investigation into the legal assistance Schmidt has received from the Turkish American Legal Defense Fund. Krikorian had previously filed a complaint with the watchdog group, alleging that Schmidt had received free legal support from the organization — a violation of House rules, he argued.

Last week, a judge in the current defamation trial, citing the Office of Congressional Ethics investigation, said Fein, who works with the Turkish American Legal Defense Fund and represented Schmidt in the Ohio Elections Commission case, would not be allowed to participate in the case.

The two sides are slated to appear in court again next month, when a judge will schedule hearings.

Donald Brey, Schmidt’s lead attorney in the case, would not respond to a request for comment. Bruce Pfaff, a Schmidt spokesman, declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Pfaff confirmed that the congresswoman had sought permission from the Office of Congressional Ethics to start a legal defense fund allowing her to raise money to cover fees associated with the court case. Pfaff said Schmidt has yet to hear back on the request.

For decades, tensions have existed between Armenian-Americans, who have long sought recognition that the killings constitute genocide, and their Turkish counterparts, who have opposed congressional recognition measures and point out that their side also suffered widespread casualties in the war.

The controversy bubbled to the surface of the American foreign policy debate in 2007, when Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) introduced a resolution seeking congressional recognition of the genocide over objections from Bush administration officials, who argued that the bill risked alienating the Turkish government. The resolution never passed — though Schiff, whose Southern California district includes a relatively significant Armenian-American constituency, has said he would like to reintroduce legislation in the current Congress.

Schmidt, a member of the Caucus on U.S. Turkish Relations and Turkish-Americans and an opponent of Schiff’s efforts, has become something of a heroine to the Turkish lobby. The Turkish Coalition of America has emerged as one of her top contributors, funneling $7,500 to her 2010 reelection campaign through its political action committee, after donating $7,600 to her in the previous cycle. After Schmidt defeated Krikorian in 2008, the organization sent out a celebratory news release, congratulating Schmidt and blasting Krikorian for waging a “malicious campaign.”

She’s also become a frequent visitor to Turkey. Since 2008, Schmidt and her chief of staff, Barry Bennett, have taken four trips there, according to Legistorm, a website that monitors congressional spending. The cost of the trips — two of which were sponsored by the Turkish Coalition of America — totaled more than $35,000.

To the Turkish community and its allies, their support for Schmidt simply reflects her consistent support for their cause — far from the nefarious undertaking Krikorian suggests.

“She displayed courage, which is not a common trait in this town,” Fein said. “She stood up.”

Krikorian, meanwhile, has become a favorite son of the Armenian National Committee of America, which tapped him to emcee its annual banquet in 2009. After he fell short in the 2010 Democratic primary, the group praised him for his “valiant campaign.”

“We see Rep. Schmidt very committed to this effort to deny an Armenian genocide. That’s very troubling to us,” said Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America. “We admire David a lot. He showed a lot of courage in standing up to Jean Schmidt in her efforts to silence him.”

Hamparian thinks Schmidt’s defamation suit is “part of a broader effort to silence discussion of the Armenian genocide.”

“There is a reason why the congresswoman is dedicating so much time and attention to David Krikorian, and the reason has nothing to do with what’s happening in Cincinnati,” he said. “It has to do with what’s happening in Ankara.”