"At no time did I ever — ever — threaten a lawsuit or threaten litigation. Never. And anybody who says that I did is not being truthful,"
says Bruce Braley. "This was a personal dispute between my wife and a neighbor because chickens were on our property all the time."
Even if Braley didn’t threaten a suit, some around Holiday Lake bristled at his tactics. “They are not neighborly,” said [the chicken's owner Pauline] Hampton, a mental health therapist who uses the hens as therapy animals. “In Iowa, we are very well known for being friendly, and if one has a problem with another, we always talk to them face-to-face. This kind of floored me.”
What Braley's wife supposedly said to the therapy chicken lady, who'd come to the door with a gift of a dozen fresh eggs, was: "We aren’t going to accept your eggs — and we have filed a formal complaint against you."
Another neighbor, William Nagel, who sits on the homeowners association board, said, “Buddy, we’re here in Iowa. We talk like men here and we act like men. Usually, a man’s word is like gold. A handshake is a contract. Neighbors are neighbors, and if you’ve got a problem with your neighbor, you talk it out.”...
“You threaten to sue somebody because a chicken’s on your property? That’s absolutely ridiculous,” [said Braley's Republican opponent, Joni Ernst]. “In Red Oak, my neighbor next door, when we first moved into our house, their kids were raising chickens in the garage as a project. No big deal. Oh, my goodness. It’s Iowa. Come on. Get over yourself.”
Brayley is a lawyer, by the way, and Ernst is that lady who
"grew up castrating hogs on an Iowa farm."
Posts
70 comments:
Ain't no frontin' here, she'll be around next year.
She's the Jiffy Mac. - Kid Rock appropriated to Ernst.
If you have chickens roaming around, you don't have ticks. They eat them all.
I know who I'd rather have as a neighbor, and it's not the chicken-hater.
(Really -- they're pissed because chickens are on their lawn? Just get a dog!)
"Before you embark on a journey of revenge against a chicken lover, dig two graves." - Col. Sanders
That sounds about right - good for the pig lady.
Ernst is the real thing, as opposed to lawyers. Sorry.
Is he the one that went down to Texas and backstabbed his Iowa neighbors to the out-of-state lawyers group? Sniffing dismissively about farmers and such.
Braley is totally "with the people" while Ernst, no doubt, is totally 1% and stuff.
Why did the chicken cross the road?
To get better WiFi reception.
“I don’t have a summer home anywhere.”
Good line.
Braley's going to lose because he thinks he's entitled to win...
Being a personal injury lawyer and making fun of Iowa farmers was the end, even if it was at the beginning...
Four hens roamed over to Braley's summer lake cabin and pooped; and he is entitled to have the law enforced against them.
Sounds like many of the snobs that I know. Nobody can even bend the law in their exclusive neighborhoods or they will legally attack them.
I wonder what Braley thinks about National Democrats refusing to allow border enforcement by Texas and Arizona because it is preempted by the Federal Law that they refuse to actually enforce.
I am for the farmer's daughter on this one.
Well actually Braley made some disparaging comments about farmers--and his opponent's farm background.
If you do that when you are running for office in Iowa, you just might be one sandwich short of a church social picnic lunch--if you know what I mean and I think you do. Now he's a lawyer--but as we all know (I'm a lawyer myself) not all lawyers are smart.
"Just get a dog!"
But it's a vacation home. You need to be there to have your dog there. The chickens have the run of the place when they're not around, which is often.
"At no time did I ever — ever — threaten a lawsuit or threaten litigation. Never. And anybody who says that I did is not being truthful," says Bruce Braley.
Methinks the gentleman doth protest too much.
@Althouse, I suppose that as a law professor and a resident of that liberal cesspit known as Madison, WI, that you see nothing wrong with Braley's approach to his neighbor. The lack of neighborliness, the unwillingness to meet with people and talk things out is endemic wherever liberals are in the ascendancy. It's Braley's bad luck that he's in Iowa, which might lean Democrat but where American Heartland traditions still hold.
Therapy chickens? I can die now; I've heard it all.
"Iowa nice" sounds like a lot of chicken shit.
I have chickens and dogs. The dogs tend to ignore the chickens, who scurry about but learn likewise to ignore the dogs.
If you really want to rid yourself of a chicken infestation, befriend a fox and a red-tail hawk. They'll take care of things.
I grew up in MN a few miles from the Iowa border. We try to solve issues at the lowest possible level.
In and of itself, this issues is trivial, but it does expose that Braley is above the work necessary to solve issues at the lowest possible level.
We should have a constitutional limit on the numbers of lawyers that can be in Congress at one time. Lawyers, of course, will scream that is unconstitutional.
Can't wait to see how Garage will defend the Dem.
Seems to me like much ado about nothing. Someone has a dispute with a neighbor about their livestock trespassing on his property and brings it up before the homeowner’s situation. That seems like a reasonable thing to do.
Seems that there's a hog that castrates itself. Too bad. I'm sure he'd fit in just fine in the Senate.
It is Iowa, but looking at the photo the neighborhood looks quite suburban. Suburban chickens are controversial. Fresh eggs are nice, but those suckers poop everywhere. They don't sleep in. They don't sit still on the bus. Brayley's wife has a point.
“You threaten to sue somebody because a chicken’s on your property? That’s absolutely ridiculous...It's Iowa.
Truer than true- for the last few decades Iowans have struggled to decide if they want to be friendly neighbors or if they want to be Democrats.
Is he the one that went down to Texas and backstabbed his Iowa neighbors to the out-of-state lawyers group? Sniffing dismissively about farmers and such.
Video here
I feel some Clintonian speak coming on here. He says at no time did he ever threaten a lawsuit. The neighbor says his wife threatened the lawsuit.
So, in lawyer speak, he is correct.
He's a dead man walking.
OT to Crack - I don't know where that link was, but props for the link to that BBC 'Power of Nightmares' three-parter a little while ago. Very interesting use of the precautionary principle at the end, and I'll admit a lightbulb did come on. I'll keep on being a racist cracker, but that was interesting stuff. The way he portrays my people is just amazing, and it gave me a hint of insight on how you see things.
Recommended by me, too.
Fascinating to see ten years after it was made.
...Hampton a mental health therapist who uses the hens as therapy animals.
Take these two free-ranging Rhode Island Reds and call me in the morning.
I am an attorney of more than 25 years. Many of my best friends are attorneys. Many attorneys are absolute assholes. For an attorney to threaten a next-door neighbor with explicit or implied litigation is about as horrible a bullying thing as one can do. Sounds like the chickens have come home to roost for Braley.
From what I hear about HOA's, I am surprised they don't have a rule banning livestock. I'm with Braley's crabby old lady. Keep them damn chickens and any stray kids off my lawn!
Who in the Hell ever heard of a therapy chicken anyway? Maybe therapy at the Sunday dinner table, piping hot.
Man, living next door to the Braleys must be a real pain in the ass. A one-percenter liberal democrat and an owners' association is the formula for a living hell in a neighborhood.
for the last few decades Iowans have struggled to decide if they want to be friendly neighbors or if they want to be Democrats.
That.is.perfect.
I just don't see how a chicken can be used in a therapeutic way. I've never felt them to be a creature that inspires or demonstrates much affection, but perhaps that's just me. Obama won election twice,
Eat mor chikin.
Bob Boyd wins the thread.
I own a rental house that has neighbors who now have 4 chickens - who prefer my well-fenced back yard to their own, because it is larger, grassier and has water in a fountain.
I just rented to a biker guy who owns a mastiff-German Shepard mix.
Hilarity is bound to occur, soon.
The chickens are probably fertilizing Braley's lawn and garden for free, and keeping the bug population down. The chicken lady should counter-sue (if it really comes to that) for maintenance.
Couple of chicken shit neighbors. One literally, one figuratively.
"William Nagel, who sits on the homeowners association board, said, “Buddy, we’re here in Iowa. We talk like men here and we act like men. Usually, a man’s word is like gold. A handshake is a contract. Neighbors are neighbors, and if you’ve got a problem with your neighbor, you talk it out.”
If this were really true, nobody would have felt the need to create a homeowners' association.
People in Iowa are as full of shit as the rest of us. Are their egos assuaged with this bullshit talk? Pettiness is everywhere, just like kindness is.
I vote for Virgil Hilts comment, chickens coming home to roost.
"Why did the Libertarian chicken cross the road?"
"None of your damn business. Am I being detained?"
I've always wanted a therapy monkey so that I could take him with me to a salad bar.
Sprinklers controlled by motion detectors - unless chickens enjoy showers.
When the zombies arrive, someone will demand respect for his therapy zombie
Therapy chickens? I can die now; I've heard it all.
Link
About lawyers in politics...
There are lots of lawyers in politics. Former prosecutors, former U.S. Attorneys, former legislative counsel, business lawyers, etc. I don't have any particular feelings about any of those lawyers as politicians.
Braley is a particular breed of lawyer. Braley is a personal injury lawyer. A contingency fee guy, and an activist within his state's (and the nation's) "trial lawyers" associations. Those lawyers have a very special interest in government; electing Democrats who promote legislation that creates new causes of action, and fighting all legislative efforts to enact tort reform and lawsuit abuse laws.
As union membership declines and union fundraising machines fall by the wayside, Democrats are evermore dependent on well-heeled trial lawyers like Braley as their paymasters.
Never, ever lose sight of the powerful influence wielded by the attorneys who have made hundreds of millions of dollars handling disability, social security, asbestos, medical malpractice, products liability and pharmaceutical lawsuits.
I know of no purer distinction between Republicans and Democrats. The Democrats are wedded to trial lawyers and vice versa.
There may be pro-choice Republicans, or pro-life Democrats. There may be pro-immigration Republicans, and some budget-cutting Democrats.
But the thing with tort reform and trial lawyers is about as clean and perfect a dividing line as there is in American politics.
See - I side with the conservative and nobody says blip. I side with the white lady and nobody says shit. I side with the white lady I don't even like, and you bastards treat me like I'm a 'Frisco dyke.
I'm more than that.
mezzrow,
"OT to Crack - I don't know where that link was, but props for the link to that BBC 'Power of Nightmares' three-parter a little while ago."
You're welcome, it's entertaining television.
"Very interesting use of the precautionary principle at the end, and I'll admit a lightbulb did come on."
Lightbulbs are good, and there's some interesting information in it, plus cool juxtapositions - the guy had the run of the BBC archives - put together with an artist's eye.
"I'll keep on being a racist cracker, but that was interesting stuff."
I like your commitment. Still, if you can find Left-wing agitprop "interesting," things can change.
"The way he portrays my people is just amazing, and it gave me a hint of insight on how you see things."
Well, you have to remember I offered it with the disclaimer I thought it was factually incorrect. But there's a lot of facts (and a dash of truth) in there, too. I look at it in it's most successful guise - as art.
"Recommended by me, too."
Good - here's the link for everyone else.
"Fascinating to see ten years after it was made."
Then prepare to get your mind blown, because this is even better - it's from 2002 - and doesn't come with a disclaimer. In other words, it's actually closer to how I see the world. More evidence culture trumps politics.
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Crack Emcee Presents:
Adam Curtis' "The Century of the Self"
Enjoy,...
The would-be-Senator's wife is going to get the full Iowa stubborn Pick a Little Talk a Little over these chickens.
If this happened in May, when the campaign was already in swing, what was she thinking?
The motive could be self-sabotage. Let's say your politician husband as been in Washington for 7 years and you are not enthused by the prospect of 7 more. Pick a little fight with a neighbor at your vacation home.
When therapy chickens are at your door...
invite them in for supper.
When you see your Iowa neighbor carrying a heavy load of therapy chickens...
ask him to rest in the shade of your tree. No need to mention the shadow of the law.
@crack
good shout on that. Have you ever read or heard of the Freud/Bullitt book on Wilson?
http://www.amazon.com/Woodrow-Wilson-Psychological-American-Presidency/dp/0765804263
Worth a look. I've always considered Wilson our most racist president. Incidentally, I'm not a fan. Your thoughts?
Why did the therapy chicken cross the road?
A: He was trying to get away from a litigious Democratic dog.
mezzrow,
"good shout on that. Have you ever read or heard of the Freud/Bullitt book on Wilson?"
No, but I'll check it out - fascinating topic.
"Worth a look. I've always considered Wilson our most racist president. Incidentally, I'm not a fan. Your thoughts?"
Who's "our most racist president"? I've never thought about it before. Plus I figure things differently. Like, a lot of people talk of Johnson's racism - which is true - but the guy cracked me up so much I can't hate him!
Let me consider a few things and get back to you,...
If this were really true, nobody would have felt the need to create a homeowners' association.
Agreed especially since Mr. Nagel’s view of proper Iowan behavior doesn’t seem to include “and we don’t let our pets and/or livestock roam onto other people’s property.”
Thorley Winston said...
Seems to me like much ado about nothing. Someone has a dispute with a neighbor about their livestock trespassing on his property and brings it up before the homeowner’s situation. That seems like a reasonable thing to do.
He called the HOA lawyer, threatened a lawsuit, and cost the HOA $1,400 in legal fees, which is actually real money in Iowa.
The lawyer did some research (thus the $1,400) and wrote a letter to the HOA basically saying Braley's full of shit, and if the HOA went after the woman she could sue, and win.
If Braley wasn't a self-entitled asshole, he would have invited the woman over to dinner, apologized, asked for some eggs, and paid the HOA for the cost of the lawyer's fees. But in addition to the above, he's also an idiot, which is why he didn't do that.
It would be delightful justice if he ends up losing because he too clearly showed his character.
He's not going to lose because of chickens. He's going to lose because he forgot to conceal his elitist arrogance. To the extent that he doubled down on it.
Left Bank of the Charles said...
The motive could be self-sabotage. Let's say your politician husband as been in Washington for 7 years and you are not enthused by the prospect of 7 more. Pick a little fight with a neighbor at your vacation home.
Two problems with that. The first is that he's an ambulance chasing trial lawyer, the kind of person who wheres a tie to keep the foreskin from creeping up. The idea that should would actually want him home is rather ludicrous.
But second, it was Braley's call to the lawyer that really caused the problems. And that, he did to himself.
from Wikipedia (sort of): As a conspicuous ground-dwelling species, therapy chickens are at risk from predators. Mammals like foxes, raccoons, coyotes, wolves, bobcats and Democrats often hunt them. Therapy chickens of all ages defend themselves and their young by jumping and kicking and retaining legal counsel. If the predator persists, the therapy chicken pecks with its hard beak (which is powerful enough to pierce the skull of a soft-headed Democrat lawyer) and kicks.
Funny. This kind of 'character' attack is what usually sinks Rep candidates, and especially for one appearing in the WaPo. So Braley is an arrogant, belligerent attorney who likes to sue people. Sounds right.
The 'chicken shit' episode may well be his macaca moment. Also interesting that the linked story appears in the WaPo which pushed the macaca story relentlessly in an obvious attempt to torpedo George Allen's re-election to the Senate.
What goes around comes around.
When we bought our place in Texas, the real estate lady asked Deb and I in all seriousness if we "would be able to handle quiet out there, and the roosters on the next property."
I explained that I was waking up every night to police helicopters, searchlights and gunfire (to include full auto). I didn't see roosters being a problem.
And they aren't. Lately their chickens have taken to wandering over to our property and that's fine with us, watching the little pullets scurry everywhere.
And we made a point of NO HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION in the neighborhood.
Bliss.
Braley is like one of those dicks who moves to Amarillo and complains about the smell of cow shit.
It's made all the worse that it's a "vacation house" which apparently entitles Braley to demand everyone accommodate him.
Forgot to add this choice point:
"During last fall’s partial federal government shutdown, Braley complained that the gym for House members was not being fully staffed. “There’s no towel service,” he said. “We’re doing our own laundry down there.”"
I am currently president of our homeowners association. We have, in our title deeds, certain restrictions on what animals one can keep on their property (1/4 acre, single family lots). Specifically, no chickens, pigs, horses or other livestock and not many dogs or cats.
Our policy is if someone violates it, we send them a letter telling them to get rid of the animals. If a week or two later they have not, we file a complaint with the city and they take care of it.
Braley seems like an asshole in many ways but he may be in the right on this. If the property is covenanted no animals, calling them therapy chickens doesn't make it OK.
I think he should have spoken first but if that didn't make the chickens go away, he should have taken stronger measures.
If the woman uses chickens for therapy, that raises another question: Is she running a "business" in her home? If so, this may also be in violation of the covenants. If so, he should probably complain about that, too.
John Henry
Quaestor,
Give credit where it is due! Isn't Hentoff almost always a voice of sanity? I don't agree with everything he says (though mostly, in my hearing at least, he's blabbering about civil liberties so I DO agree with him!) but even when I don't he still comes off as a genuine sane person.
Crack,
Re Wilson as president:
http://reason.com/archives/2002/12/18/dixiecrats-triumphant
If the property is covenanted no animals
Should have been "covenanted no farm animals"
Someone mentioned libertarians above. Like me, I suppose. I think HOA's and deed restrictions are the perfect libertarian expression. Zoning is govt imposing what the mob wants me to do with my property.
I knew there was an HOA when I bought my house in 1982. I knew what the covenant restrictions were. It was one of the attractions of the development. Sometimes a bit of a pain in the ass but I don't have to worry about goats or chickens next door like I did in my previous house. In a subdevelopment where the basic lot size was 400 sq meters.
I do not like zoning. I do like the free-market approach of HOAs and covenants.
John Henry
No fear. Even in Iowa the ever-growing Free Stuff vote will pull him over the finish line. Iowans may be friendly but they're abysmally smug in their ignorance.
“There’s no towel service,” he said. “We’re doing our own laundry down there.”
Classic.
What Braley's wife supposedly said to the therapy chicken lady, who'd come to the door with a gift of a dozen fresh eggs, was: "We aren’t going to accept your eggs — and we have filed a formal complaint against you."
As Dave Barry might say, Therapy Chicken Lady would be a good name for a rock band.
Since the WaPo is obviously uninterested in giving an honest recitation of the facts, I suggest you all read this: http://theiowarepublican.com/2014/braley-chicken/
After the Braleys’ initial complaint, the board determined that Braley’s neighbor, Pauline M. Hampton, a licensed therapist and U.S. Air Force veteran, should contain her chickens within a month. Hampton, a graduate of Iowa State University, is the Director of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, which is based at her Holiday Lake home.
“It was determined that at this time chickens are not a restricted animal, [and a] letter will be sent requiring chickens to be contained on owner’s property,” according to the minutes of the May board meeting. Under the association’s by-laws, a property owner has 30 days to comply with such a notice.
That didn’t satisfy Braley, a litigator since 1983, a former president of the Iowa Trial Lawyers Association from 2002-2003, and a former Board of Governors member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (since rebranded as the American Association for Justice).
Before the 30 day window closed for Hampton to rectify the problem, Braley called Grinnell attorney Thomas A. Lacina, a partner at Charnetski, Lacina & Clower, LLP, and issued a veiled threat to litigate the matter. To resolve the dispute, Lacina billed the association $1,692, according to budget documents reviewed by board members at their July 10 meeting.
...
Lacina wrote that Hampton has four hens, which she uses to “work with children who have mental health and communication issues,” according to Lacina’s e-mail, seemingly based on communication from the board, as Hampton said she did not speak directly with him. “They have not been a problem and I use them for therapy and have them certified, as well as they will hopefully be entered into the Iowa State Fair competition this year by my grandson and we WILL be identifying them by where we live and that they are Holiday Lake chickens.”
As to the potential nuisance legal problem, “… the only thing mentioned by Ms. Braley is, ‘Saturday evening as I sat on my deck, I could smell the chickens.’ Without more information, I don’t see that being enough to find that the 4 chickens are causing a nuisance,” wrote Lacina, who did not respond to a request for comment.
His analysis—a six-page parsing of who might prevail in a potential lawsuit given the board’s by-laws and out-of-state case law—weighed similar issues such as the livestock vs. pet distinction for chickens, dwarf Nigerian goats and African grey parrots.
Lacina followed up with a June 3 letter to the Braleys informing them that under his analysis the four chickens at issue can be construed as household pets under the association’s by-laws. He suggested that the Braleys would lose a lawsuit if they pressed the matter.
“It appears the owner of the four hens treats them in the nature of pets for pleasure or companionship, and given the ambiguity of the restrictive covenant and applying the law of strict construction in favor of the owner being able to keep the hens, the board’s decision that the hens do not violate the restrictive covenants seems reasonable,” Lacina wrote. “Indeed, the opposite decision might be highly contestable in court.”
Straight up and simple: this is a case of Braley being an ass.
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