One more lawyer, one more retainer. One more loan? [The home stretch!]

January 28, 2021 – Thursday

Hi friends. It’s exciting to be in the home stretch of this legal battle that has gone on for YEARS (since the unwarranted attacks all started in March of 2016 – shortly after I did the event with Bernie Sanders in Flint, Michigan!)

The good news…

The good news is that the attorneys for the State of Oregon contacted my legal team back in November of 2020 and said they would like to try to settle this in mediation. While the State’s attorneys have not yet made an opening bid in an attempt to settle this, just knowing that they are interested in settling (and are willing to make me an offer in mediation) is huge progress.

The bad news…

The “bad” news is that this mediation WAS scheduled to happen on January 14th, but negotiations have been postponed a bit because I broke my leg on January 6th. However this also gives me a little time to pull myself together (literally!…to hopefully learn to walk again!) and also to find one final attorney to represent me for the mediation (otherwise I was planning on representing myself (pro se) for the mediation, which has been discouraged by friends and advisors in the legal profession!)

I have been interviewing a handful of attorneys and will hopefully have someone soon… BUT will definitely need to come up with a retainer to pay that person. The first step will be to hire someone HOURLY to represent me for the mediation (which will likely require a retainer of $10,000 or $15,000 more), and then the second step will be (if we don’t settle in mediation) to hopefully find someone to represent me (perhaps the same person) on contingency for the trial (if things end up going to trial.)

So with this update… If anyone has resources to help with what I expect will be a relatively short-term final loan for this final retainer for this final lawyer… that would be excellent.

I have been doing a great job paying people back as soon as I can, and while I do have a handful of larger long-term debts still to repay, this past year I have been slowly chipping away at paying all of my smaller debts and debts to vendors (like forensic bookkeepers) related to the case – and was able to get current with so much in 2020 – in spite of the pandemic!

Thanks for your consideration.

My resources for Loan repayment are…

1. Earned income (Lead Safe Mama, LLC has been – amazingly – paying our bills, although the net profit each year has been low given such a large percentage of the gross income has been going towards the cost of this legal battle.)
2. Selling the family farm (my stepfather is working to buy me out of my 25% interest possibly as soon as the end of February) and
3. Any settlement proceeds from settling the legal case (possibly as soon as February or March if I can find a good attorney for the mediation!)

Thanks in advance for you consideration in this matter – and any links or resources you might have! I am happy to share tax returns with prospective lenders too (it’s pretty impressive how much Lead Safe Mama, LLC has grown in the past few years since we officially incorporated as an LLC!)

Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama