Final Word from Monday, February 7, 2005
Stanislav Gross's spokeswoman, Věra Dušková, told Nedělní svět that if she had imagined that her boss's apartment was going to become such an issue, she would have advised him right away to stay silent. Just as Vlastimil Tlustý and Miroslav Kalousek did when they had similar problems, she added. Gross not only commented, but he also made a cardinal mistake. He evoked the name of MF Dnes in defending himself. First he said he was going to sue MFD, and then he said he had borrowed the money from a former MFD shareholder (thereby indirectly calling attention to MFD's sketchy privatization). Until these comments, the other media hadn't paid much attention to the story, because it was MFD's. But once he tried to dirty MFD's name, everyone jumped in, seeing a chance to smear a competitor. And now it's the biggest issue in Czech politics. [Czech Republic flat campaign ODS KDU-ČSL Mafra corruption]