Michael Emerling Cloud
Michael Emerling Cloud participated in the phone conferences which generated the ugly campaign to raise the stress level on me while they knew I was experiencing heart problems. Emerling was paid routinely for these services.
He participated in the conspiracy to persuade me to turn off my son, Arthur's life-support and believed Arthur had died when he broadcast a letter announcing Arthur's death to a large portion of Libertarians containing lies about me and telling recipients to send their condolences to Craig Franklin, Arthur's adopted father.
I only learned of this outrage because Sharon Ayres sent me condolences, leaving me with the agonizing obligation to contact her from my son's hospital room where I had been nearly continuously since he shot himself in the head, despondent at what Craig had intentionally done to him. This was not denying his relationship with Arthur, it was calling to lie to me, saying he wanted to stay in Arthur's life and have a relationship with him. I cried because I was touched with this demonstration of concern for a young man who was still struggling with his permanent disabilities from a motorcycle accident less than six months before.
Craig Franklin had first denied any of my children, who he had insisted on adopting as 'his legal heirs' on June 26, 1989, immediately following our second wedding, demanded by Craig.
Craig asked me to have Arthur meet him for lunch. I drove Arthur to the restaurant hoping the two would continue work on the project they had been discussing just before Arthur's accident, building a small car from a kit in our garage. Instead, Arthur told me, only after his recovery many months later, that Craig had told him he was worthless, thrown some money on the table and finished by telling him in a loud voice he wanted nothing to do with him.
Arthur came home deeply upset, but refused to tell me what had happened. Less than two weeks later he shot himself through the brain. This was planned in one of the meetings in which Emerling participated. Emerling is guilty of attempted murder by conspiracy.
The previous February I tried to attend the California Libertarian Party Convention, being held in Los Angeles. I was told I was forbidden to attend. Emerling had arranged this to keep me from talking to old friends. Craig paid Emerling $6,000 to arrange this along with helping him in his attempt to murder my son. These amounts were discovered during the divorce and also mentioned to me by a fellow attendee at the convention.
Mark Hinkle, then Chairman of the LPC, colluded with this, accepting at face value the assertion I would make a scene at the Convention and had committed despicable acts. Only after he was told the LP would be sued for this did he grudgingly rescind this outrage. I had been a state officer for six terms and done enormous work for the LPC. Mark did not even have the decency to tell me what lies had been told about me. But he had the $1,000 so that is likely all that mattered.
