2003 Sept. 12 -- On September 10, Socialist Party Secretary Michael C. Marino says he noticed an address error - that for the Socialist Party of Oregon - in the directory listing of the Portland Alliance. FAXing the Alliance a notice of the change, Marino received a call back immediately from Dave Mazza, the newsletter's Editor.
"I couldn't believe it," says Marino. "He was charging that I had a 'developmental disability' and said he wanted to 'destroy the Socialist Party' -- I had trouble believing it was him! Either way, I hung up.
"I wrote a letter and sent it by electronic mail, clarifying that regardless of whether or not he 'wanted to destroy the Socialist Party' or whether or not I had a 'developmental disability', the address he was running was wrong."
Dave Mazza responded by submitting an e-mail to the Socialist Party accusing Marino of 'communicating... libelous information' while asserting that Marino's 'communications' were 'delusional'.Full Text Here
"I nearly bust a gut laughing," Marino says of his first response to Mazza's e-mail. "Delusional? The address he is listing is Box 321, 1720 NW Lovejoy, Portland, OR 97209. That's not our address; even if I were delusional, it's still not our address, so his logic on this strikes me as a bit wackitty. When I got to the 'libel' part, I think I must have had the same feeling Al Franken had when he got Fox's lawsuit accusing him of infringing on their ownership of the phrase 'fair and balanced' -- an address update is 'libel'? I don't think so.
"I think Mazza has lost it; our address is P.O. Box 5633, Portland, OR 97228. His letter was not just full of invective, but some really off-the-wall and paranoid ravings. Full Text Here
"I know that the Portland Alliance has been having some hard times lately; they've even taken to running imaginary endorsements from deceased people. With this recent letter, calling an address update 'libelous' and all... it's just surreal. I don't know what his real problem is, but I wish him the best."