Churchill lawyer releases Owens deposition

The Rocky:

Former Gov. Bill Owens said in a deposition it's a good thing the University of Colorado ignored him when he urged that professor Ward Churchill be fired over a controversial essay.

"I'm glad that the university, its counsel, and others who had a chance over a period of years to look at the law and look at the case didn't follow my advice and, in fact, chose to ignore it," Owens said in the deposition, taken one week ago today.

Had CU fired Churchill for the essay - as Owens wanted - the school would have violated Churchill's free-speech rights, Owens said. . . .

Churchill's attorney, David Lane, on Thursday released a copy of the deposition to the Rocky Mountain News.

"The real story here is that the governor admitted he violated Ward Churchill's rights," Lane said. "In his deposition, he swore that he was going to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, but he gave CU advice to violate the Constitution."

Owens countered that Churchill is trying to claim he was fired because of "pressure from the top" but he won't be able to prove his case. In the deposition, Owens said "the faculty and the University of Colorado ignored me most of the time." He also noted the regents are elected and he had no power over them.

"Ward Churchill was fired because he's a congenital plagiarist," Owens said Thursday.

Plagiarists are made, not born, Bill. But it's pretty predictable where this is going: The Chutch camp is trying to deflect attention from Ward's actual work, in which the lies and plagiarism are manifest, and onto Bill Owens' Nixon-like big mouth.

Here's the pdf of the deposition.

(via the parrot with the pirate on his shoulder)

Update: Of course, if you read the deposition, Lane's claim that Owens admitted he had "violated Churchill's rights" is absolute bull. As Owens points out more than once, he has the right, just like Wardo, to say anything he wants.