The Insider
Just Who IS John Fund's Lawyer?
By Morrie Friendly

CHRONOLOGY For those of you not familiar with the tale, here is a brief recap of events leading up to John Fund's arrest. Prior to the arrest, Fund had been in an approximately three-year relationship with Morgan Pillsbury (after having had a brief sexual relationship with her mother some two decades back); Pillsbury moved in with Fund, who lived in a Jersey City apartment, last year.  Fund's landlord sued him for back rent (he paid less than $1000 per month). Last September, a taped conversation between Fund and Pillsbury surfaced on the WeaselSearch web site along with an accompanying article by investigative journalist John Connolly; the tape and article revealed that the supposedly "pro-life" pundit's girlfriend became pregnant by him in 1999 and had an abortion.  During November and December of last year, the Jersey City police made at least two visits to Fund's apartment following calls from Pillsbury. Pillsbury fled Fund early this year -- but Fund followed her to New York, briefly staying with Pillsbury at her New York apartment following what was rumored to be Fund's forced departure from the print edition of the Wall Street Journal. On January 23, John Fund was arrested by New York police following a complaint by Pillsbury; the story was first reported by APJ.  Two days later, Pillsbury was granted an order of protection from Fund by Judge Eileen Koretz (congratulations, Eileen!).

March 21, 2002 - WASHINGTON (APJP) - Just who really IS John Fund's lawyer?

Sources close to the dispute confirm that the lawyer for Morgan Pillsbury, whose complaint led to Fund's arrest, was contacted last week by and attorney from California named Manny Klausner.  Klausner represented Matt Drudge when Sidney Blumenthal sued the discredited cybergossip following Drudge's bogus report that Blumenthal had beaten his wife.

The plot thickens.

Klausner's defense of Drudge was reportedly "financed" by the so-called Individual Rights Center (the legal arm of the Center for the Study of Popular Culture, whose president and co-founder is right-winger David Horowitz) -- which in fact received heavy funding from billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife.

And, as it turns out, Klausner-- who reportedly interceded to defuse the situation and thereby rescue Fund from his legal woes -- is not Fund's lawyer of record.

According to Lloyd Grove's The Reliable Source column in the February 26 edition of the Washington Post, "Yesterday, Fund referred us to his attorney, Paul Windels."

Paul Windels III is a litigator with New York law firm Perry & Windels, and a leading player among New York's Republican elite. A New York lawyer friend calls Windels "...a gifted lawyer with a perfect balance of politically savvy and likability.definitely a name to watch."  He is at least a third-generation lawyer with deep Republican roots; his father, Paul Windels Jr. is also a notable trial lawyer who serves on a number of boards, including that of the highly respected Brooklyn Law School and the internationally prominent Lexington School for the Deaf; his grandfather was a leading New York Republican and a delegate to the party's 1924 National Convention.

In a brief conversation with our executive editor this morning in which Klausner's actions came up, Windels said, "Unless I am mistaken, [Klausner] has no authority to act on [Fund's] behalf."  To Windels' knowledge, Fund has not retained Klausner.

We believe Windels.

With Windels as Fund's lawyer of record, why is another attorney whose income can be tied to Richard Mellon Scaife working to settle the matter?  Is Fund's supposed employer, the Wall Street Journal, aware of this latest unethical behavior: what looks to be tinkering with the system to weasel out of both criminal charges and the looming possibility of rigorous civil action?

There is a possible answer to the first question. Klausner's eagerness to see this matter disappear quietly may have to do with a tidbit reported in APJ on January 16: Pillsbury "claimed that Fund told her they both lied to their lawyer and Drudge lied under oath during the course of the [Blumenthal] lawsuit."

Since the beginning of the year, Fund's columns have not appeared in the print edition of the Wall Street Journal but on their Opinion Journal web site. It has been rumored since January that Fund was dismissed from the print edition.

Meanwhile, a source in the print press is hinting that a well-known conservative pundit is ready to speak out on the Fund debacle - and will, in the source's words, "go Medieval" on the troubled pundit for not only the Pillsbury matter but other less-than-virtuous conduct.

And to be honest, we're not surprised in the least that Fund's fellow-travelers have had it with his hypocrisy.