Discover GOP Opprobrium

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Opponents of former U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan's brand-new congressional bid said her failed federal corruption case against Cyril H. Wecht would become a thorny issue in the race. In her very first day as an official candidate for the District 4 seat, she made sure it did.

Ms. Buchanan called into KDKA-AM on Thursday morning to complain about claims on the Marty Griffin show about the cost of the federal case, and while doing so told Mr. Griffin he was "running afoul" of defamation law and to "shut up."

The Fox Chapel Republican has been behind the scenes for months getting ready for the GOP nomination to take on U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire, D-McCandless. After her bid became official Wednesday, she released a statement that said she was concerned about "out of control spending" in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Wecht, the former Allegheny County coroner and local Democratic Party chair, seized on that in a call to Mr. Griffin's morning show, claiming that the two-year federal case against him -- which Ms. Buchanan dropped in 2008 -- cost taxpayers $20 million. She called the show after Dr. Wecht left the air, saying that figure was "wildly exaggerated" and Mr. Griffin was trying to "distort my record."

"You repeat [the $20 million figure] and that is just flat-out wrong," Ms. Buchanan said. "And you know, we still have defamation laws in this country. To the extent that you keep repeating things that are flat-out wrong, you're running afoul. That case could not have cost the government more than $500,000 and that's on the outside."

"So you're saying you're going to sue me, is that what you're saying Mary Beth?," Mr. Griffin asked.

After some back and forth Mr. Griffin asked if she would provide the salaries of the prosecutors and staffers on the case. "You'll provide the cost of all the documentation for that case? Are you going to answer my question?"

"I am answering your question if you would shut up and let me talk," she responded.

"This is how you're going to run, telling people to shut up and threatening them with lawsuits?"

"Listen, if you want the facts I'm here to give them to you," she said. "If you want to hear yourself talk, then why do you even invite people to come on and become guests?"

Ms. Buchanan later promised to go on the show live next week, but would not provide salary information for the case, saying it was private. She added the yearly budget for her office was only $9 million.

Asked about Ms. Buchanan's comments, her media consultant John Brabender said they "showed somebody who is very passionate and is not going to back down when they think they're right, and somebody else is throwing bombs at them and is wrong.

"Cyril Wecht has become the public face of the Altmire campaign and I don't hear Altmire complaining about that," Mr. Brabender said. "This is the person who equally attacked John Heinz and Richard Caliguiri."

Dr. Wecht, reached later in the day, responded to both Ms. Buchanan's comments she made to the radio station, and to Mr. Brabender's remarks about him.

"For her -- a lawyer -- to make that kind of [defamation] threat tells you something about her character, her sense of propriety and so on," Dr. Wecht said.

As for Mr. Brabender, "I wouldn't expect anything less from that vicious attack dog -- that's what he's paid handsome sums for," Dr. Wecht said.

Mr. Altmire's campaign would not comment yesterday.

Democrats including Allegheny County party chairman Jim Burn have said they will make her handling of Dr. Wecht's case -- and its cost -- an issue in her congressional campaign. National Democrats have called her a "foot soldier" to former President George W. Bush.

Before facing Mr. Altmire she first has to face off against two fellow Republicans -- attorney Keith Rothfus of Edgeworth and businessman John Vinsick of Hopewell -- in the May 18 primary.

Defamation is generally defined as a defamatory statement about a person causing injury to the person's reputation. As a public official, Ms. Buchanan would have a tough time proving it, said Teri Henning, general counsel of the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association.

"A public figure or a public official has to prove actual malice -- knowledge of falsity and reckless disregard for the truth. That is a hard standard to meet," she said.

Tim McNulty: [e-mail] or 412-263-1581. Read the Early Returns blog at post-gazette.com/politics.


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