Walsh vs. Walsh battle continues as candidate fires back at Hollywood
Joe Walsh, Republican candidate for the 8th House district, said in a letter to attorneys for guitarist Joe Walsh that he will not "Walk Away."
The congressional candidate from Winnetka said he will not take down a video from his Web site at walshforcongress.com that could infringe on the artistic rights of the guitarist. The video features a song called "Lead the Way," a karaoke version of the original song, with different lyrics.
In a letter dripping with sarcasm to the guitarist's attorney, Peter Paterno of King, Holmes, Paterno & Berliner, LLC, from Los Angeles, the candidate claims a right to use the song parody that he believes is protected by the U.S. Supreme Court.
"Here, we are using the karaoke version of a song, with our own lyrics, that even viewed in the most favorable light by your side is clearly parody, and hence, protected," he said in the letter. "This is the United States of America, where we're free to express ourselves however we want - especially when it comes to politics."
Paterno and attorney Howard King of King, Holmes, Paterno & Berliner, have not responded to Walsh's letter.
Walsh is facing off in the Feb. 2 primary against Dirk Beveridge of Barrington, John Dawson of Barrington, Chris Geissler of Barrington, Greg Jacobs of Mundelein and Maria Rodriguez of Long Grove.
The winner will face incumbent Democrat Melissa Bean of Barrington and Green Party candidate Bill Scheurer of Lindenhurst on the November ballot.
The 8th District includes parts of Cook, Lake and McHenry counties.
The battle between the L.A.-based lawyers and candidate Walsh started Wednesday when the attorneys demanded the video be taken down.
But the candidate fired back in a letter Thursday, continuously ripping Paterno for being a "Hollywood" lawyer.
"I'm writing for myself, Joe Walsh, a Republican Candidate for Congress in Illinois' 8th District. You know where that is, don't you? It's that wide-open part of the country you fly over on your way from Los Angeles to New York," he said.
But, the candidate also admits being a huge fan of the guitarist and said he would like to sit down "hash this thing out."
<object width="300" height="243"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8Rqy6Vx-yHo&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8Rqy6Vx-yHo&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="300" height="243"></embed></object> <object width="300" height="243"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Z1ZUU8xi7qY&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Z1ZUU8xi7qY&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="300" height="243"></embed></object> <div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Related documents</h2> <ul class="morePdf"> <li><a href="/pdf/walshletter.pdf">The Joe Walsh letter </a></li> </ul> <h2>Related links</h2> <ul class="moreWeb"> <li><a href="http://walshforcongress.com/">Candidate's Web site </a></li> </ul> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=354644">Text of candidate Walsh's letter <span class="date">[01/28/2010]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=354340">Joe Walsh the candidate vs. Joe Walsh the guitarist <span class="date">[01/27/2010]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>