His is a tale of high intrigue, complete with a traitorous “friend” and two court victories with nary a penny to show for it. Who is this person? His name is Jordan Fishman and he wants you to know the truth about Texas U.S. Senate candidate Ted Cruz before you make a horrible choice and send another phony lawyer to Washington.
What is the “truth” that he wants you to know? That Ted Cruz is as phony as the snakeskin boots he wears for appearance sake. That Ted Cruz does not uphold the Tea Party principles that he says he does. That Ted Cruz stole something from him and he wants you to know it. And that now that more people know about it, Ted Cruz is playing the blame game straight out of the Obama playbook, claiming that it is his firm’s fault, not his.
Whatever else you might hear about Jordan Fishman, know this: this man is committed to seeking justice for the wrongs that have been committed against him. After months of reading about his story and dismissing it as having nothing to do with a political campaign for US Senate in Texas, I had the opportunity to sit and chat with Mr. Fishman. And now I understand why he is adamant that Ted Cruz is part of the problem in Washington, D.C. and certainly not the solution.
I do hope you read the link above to get some background on Mr. Fishman and his case. Basically, you have a small American manufacturing business that has been destroyed by industrial espionage and foreign business practices. A trusted employee of Mr. Fishman stole proprietary information from him and sold it to businesses in Dubai and China. Mr. Fishman took them to court and won – twice. He won in Florida against the traitorous employee and in Virginia against the foreign businesses. The total awarded to Mr. Fishman is close to $80 million. The former employee fled the country to avoid arrest. The foreign company hired Ted Cruz.
What does Cruz do? Delays the case. Looks for technicalities that he can use. Mind you, there is no dispute on the facts of the case. These people stole from Jordan Fishman. This isn’t about getting a “fair trial” – two courts in two states have found in Mr. Fishman’s favor. There was videotaped testimony presented in the Virginia trial in which it was disclosed that the strategy of the foreign companies was to delay, delay, delay in the hopes that Mr. Fishman would die. Yes, you read that correctly.
The strategy is to delay in the hopes that this man will die and never see the money that is owed him.
Despicable.
But how does this relate to the political campaign? That was my first question to him. His answer was short – he saw Ted Cruz embracing the Tea Party and it made him sick to his stomach. See, it turns out that Mr. Fishman believes in the principles of the Tea Party. And he doesn’t think that protecting foreign companies that steal from Americans fits those principles. Before the theft, his company employed 45 Americans. Today, it is just Mr. Fishman and a part-timer. He looked me straight in the eye and said “someone has to stand up for American workers and I decided it had to be me. And after watching Ted Cruz, I have to tell people that the last thing we need in Washington is another phony lawyer. The place is full of them and look at the mess we’re in.”
Finally, after months of dismissing his story, I understood. He isn’t in Texas to campaign for David Dewhurst. He is in Texas to fight for the rights of American workers. Workers that have been displaced not because they are lazy, not because they are too expensive, not because of anything they did at all – solely because a Chinese company stole their lives and livelihoods from them and then used slick lawyers to keep from paying the consequences.
That seems to me something worth fighting for. Don’t believe the Cruzbots – there is nothing xenophobic about fighting for American workers.
I’m glad that I met Jordan Fishman. And I hope like hell that people listen to him.
Listen to Dan Patrick and Chris Baker interview Mr. Fishman
Jordan Fishman Discusses His Story With Matt Patrick
Captain Watchdog interviews Jordan Fishman
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I feel bad for Mr. Fishman and am very familiar with such intellectual property loss.
Listening to the various radio interviews, it sounds like he did not have a patent and his trade secret was stolen and sold. Now a patent would not mean much in countries like China so sadly that would not have helped just like trying to sue China for such. As soon as his product would hit the market, it was going to be copied anyway. You need another business model. It doesn’t sound like it would have been a business windfall for such reasons.
Ted Cruz is a lawyer and they are paid for jobs, sort of legal prostitues. I’m all for banning lawyer from public office but until then…..
The current federal government will not push China on intellectual property protection because they own so much of our debt. Is Dewhurst likely to shrink government and reduce debt as a Senator? The Texas budget grew like a weed during his reign so he likely will be a Bush-like, big government Republican; now tell me how he will stand up to China. Ted Cruz, an establishment outsider, like his pal Dick Armey will be different if you had to guess (and we do).
My first question for Mr. Fishman is, did he pay to travel to Texas from Florida out of his own pocket (perhaps out of his hatred of Ted Cruz) or is the Dewhurst campaign flying him halfway across the country to talk trash on his commercials? Certainly, the smear pieces that Dewhurst is running during “Wheel of Fortune” and the “Tonight Show” over a month before the election cost more than round trip first class airfare.
Nor does it surprise me that Dan Patrick is giving Fishman a forum to speak. Now that Rick Perry is not running for president, the only shot he has of making it to the Lieutenant Governor’s spot is if Dewhurst wins the senate race.
If folks want to vote against Cruz (or any other candidate) because he is a lawyer, that is their right. We actually have had some good people who have been lawyers and excellent statesmen. I personally prefer that people who write laws understand what they are voting on. And my favorite goal for Ted Cruz is to see him on the Judiciary Committee, grilling supreme court nominees, and actually knowing what he’s talking about (and probably being smarter than them as well).
I think it is interesting that the leap is made from “a former employee stole something from Fishman” to “Ted Cruz stole something from Fishman.” I tell people all the time: I don’t make my clients. I just represent them.
But the commercials that Dewhurst is spending millions on imply that because the defendant is a Chinese company, it should not have rights in an American court. Well, Fishman is the one who chose to sue in the United States. I hope that his lawyer told him up front how long the process could take.
Don’t get me wrong. I have voted for Dewhurst in every general election he has been in. Our pachyderm club awarded him the “Tough Tusk” Award ten years ago. But a big part of the reason the conservative agenda fizzled in the legislature in the last ten years in spite of Republican majorities in both chambers is because of many of the political games Dewhurst has allowed in the Texas Senate. If he goes to DC, he will be indistinguishable from the bulk of the “go-along & get-along” folks we have there now.