If Tom Peterson is his own man, why is Joel Brodsky all up in his business?

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Yesterday, the Chicago Tribune ran a very nice story about Thomas Peterson, Drew Peterson‘s 18-year-old son being named as valedictorian of his high school, despite the death of his mother, the disappearance of his adoptive mother, and his father being charged with the murder of his mom.

Uplifting and balanced  as the Tribune story about Tom Peterson is, I can’t help going back to the fact that Joel and Drew’s PR firm sent out a press release about Tom being valedictorian, and I can’t get beyond the fact that Joel not only used the press release to market himself and his web site, but also to attack the the prosecution’s case, and as it also appears, to try to gain some ground towards getting Tom’s name off the civil suit the Savios have filed against Drew.

If you recall, the Savio’s lawyer, Martin Glink, has commented about that case:

“He’s basically saying, ‘I’m letting my father go regardless of what a jury may find,’ even if his moneys have been misspent,” But filing a release is not enough to make it happen, Glink said. “If someone is unduly influencing him, it’s a different story,” he explained.

So…maybe not too surprising that Joel Brodsky made a point of commenting about the Tribune story (via his facebook walll) with these words:

…He supports his dad Drew Peterson 1000% and as this article shows, Tommy is his own man, and nobody is pulling the wool over his eyes or making him do or say anything.

That’s really what this is all about, isn’t it? Continuing to use whatever means he can to benefit Drew, even the successes of Drew’s children. Why does Drew’s lawyer have any public opinion at all about the accomplishments of his client’s children? Does he host their birthday parties as well?

For heaven’s sake, Joel wants the public to believe that no one is manipulating this teenager, but it wasn’t Tom who sent out the press release, it was Joel Brodsky! His name is plastered all over it.

Lastly, watch the video again and listen for Tom to use Joel’s pet phrase “white noise”. At least Tom uses it correctly… :)

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59 thoughts on “If Tom Peterson is his own man, why is Joel Brodsky all up in his business?”

  5. Or imagine sitting at home, wondering what happened to your new mom who disappeared without a trace, and then overhearing your dad on the telephone doing this:

  6. Why on earth should poor Tom, who had already suffered through the reality of a losing two mothers, have had to deal with the further trauma and humiliation of stunts like this? My sincere congratulations to this young man for rising above this sort of fiasco.

  7. ABC news is carrying a story about Tom as well today. Some snippets:

    “We do see resilience like this,” said Christine Courtois, a counseling psychologist from Washington, D.C., who specializes in children who have survived trauma. “I have seen in my case load, people who compensated for terrible things that happened to them and even have drawn inspiration.”

    ………………

    Tom Peterson is likely doing well because he has support from family and friends. “That makes a difference,” said Courtois. “This young man has a lot of intelligence and is able to make his own sense out of things and find meaning.”

    ………………

    One high-profile survivor is Academy Award-winning actress Charlize Theron, who was only 15 when her mother killed her father in self-defense in their native South Africa.

    Uxoricide, or parental homicide, affects an estimated 3,000 annually in the United States, according to a study at University of Virginia School of Nursing.

    “These kids are caught in the middle,” said Richard H. Steeves, who with co-researchers Barbara Parker and Kathryn Laughon, began a study on the lasting effects of domestic homocide in 2002. “It’s hard for them to think the person supposed to be the protector of the family — usually it’s the man who does the killing — did it.”

    “That means, ‘I am the son of a killer,’ they say,” said Steeves.

    ………………

    Tom’s endurance is “very common,” according to Charles Figley, professor and director of the Psychological Stress Research Program at Florida State University.

    “He has a good dose of trait resilience to enable him to deal with any adversity,” said Figley. “They are able to more effectively calm themselves and to have a clarity of purpose. He will have set backs but often he is underestimated because of these early challenges.”

    ………………

    Though Tom said his father has not been someone he looks up to, he called him, “definitely a large presence.” The memory of his mother still lingers as a role model.

    But psychologists say that Tom Peterson’s focus on hard work might prevent him from processing this emotions, which can later “catch up” with him.

    “Workoholism is still an ‘ism’ like alcoholism,” said Courtois. “Work can get you a lot of things, but it can keep you from processing your emotions.”

    His role as “hero in the family” could also complicate how Tom ultimately processes his grief.

    As for Drew Peterson, attorneys from both sides of the case area waiting for an appeals court ruling before a trial date can be set. If he is found guilty of two murders, that could be an even bigger blow for his son, Tom.

    “If the evidence is stacked against him in a convincing way, this young man will have a real shock,” she said. “He’ll have to deal with this and get his mind around not one, but two deaths.”

    If Drew Peterson turns out to be a serial killer and his son “maintains his attachment…that would be remarkable,” she said. “If he is found guilty, it will be devastating, I am sure.”

    http://abcnews.go.com/Health/tom-peterson-son-drew-peterson-accused-killing-mother/story?id=13184772&page=1

  8. Facs- Thank you for all of this. I missed it on TV. I think there are a lot of heartfelt messages from Tom to his dad. What kid doesn’t want his or her parent to just stay home and make the family the focus? A lesson to many out there who have lost a sense of what’s really important in life. I hope Drew is truly hearing what Tom is saying.

  11. If it’s easier for you to listen this way, here’s a video. You can open another window if you don’t want to keep looking at the artist’s rendition of Drew.

  13. Facs or Rescue…..am I hearing right? According to Susan-Murphy Milano….when Vicki Connley was in the car accident, she had a passenger in that car who DIED? I have listened to the above audio 5 times.. and this is what I understthisand. Please clarify this….I thought she was in the car alone, after being told by Drew to go home from the bar.

  16. Just from looking things up I can’t confirm that there was a fatality in that accident but it is creepy that it happened on March 1, 1990 (in unincorporated Naperville).

    Kathleen died March 1, 2004.

  18. I think he likes to see it all done and dusted in time for the new financial year..

    I dimly remember that there was a passenger with Carol, but I can’t be sure. Perhaps they meant that the passenger has since died?

  19. I spotted something on Joel Brodsky’s facebook wall the other day that is very interesting and something that anyone who blogs or posts anonymously on Internet comment threads should know about.

    Your anonymity is not protected if you set out to defame someone (with libelous comments) via the Internet. There was a recent case that ruled against a certain party for posting numerous libelous claims that a city officials had been bribed (when they had not). Of course, you’d think any dummy would know that it’s illegal to spread lies online, but nice to see that the law is on the side of those who post factually and/or state their opinions and ask questions.

    Liars and defamers take warning. The Illinois courts have ruled!

    http://www.state.il.us/court/Opinions/AppellateCourt/2010/3rdDistrict/June/3080805.pdf

  21. Thanks, Irish. I’m just Googling stuff. Haven’t really found out anything for sure, but this is all interesting:

    Anonymous
    South Haven, MI Reply »
    |Report Abuse |#15 14 min ago

    An article appeared using my friend’s name. Her name was Vicki. She had no children with Drew. He had 2 boys with his first wife and Vicki had a good relationship with them. She had a daughter of her own from a previous relationship. She was a good mom. They lived on Seminole Drive at the time. Drew was under investigation at that time and he was very stressed. Drew treated her the same way her treated these next two wives. Extremely controlling. Lots of fighting and I told her many times that he was treating her badly. She had to lie to him even if she just wanted to have coffee with her girlfriends. He always made sure we knew he carried his damn gun. They bought a bar out in Montgomery, IL. I don’t know how that turned out. My husband and I only went there once. I saw her again in the hospital after she was involved in a bad car accident on the way home from the bar. I moved away about a month later. We lost touch. This whole story gives me chills. I just am glad to hear she got away from him. I pray for these last 2 families. I hope for the sake of the children that Drew did not have anything to do with all of this. My heart tells me different.

    http://www.topix.com/city/bolingbrook-il/2007/10/bolingbrook-cop-speaks-about-wifes-disappearance

    Victoria Connolly said her ex-husband, Drew Peterson, pulled a gun on her three or four times when they were married, once putting it to her head and telling her he would kill her then kill himself…

    …Connolly said after they split, Peterson offered to change the locks on her house. After that, she said, she awoke in the dead of night in her darkened house to see Peterson standing over her.
    “He didn’t say anything,” Connolly said. “We did not exchange words at all. Drew turned and left.”

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35319700/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

    …The divorce was amicable, in part, Connolly said, because she did not go after Peterson’s pension.
    …Connolly said she had been in discussions about a book deal but decided against it

    http://archive.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/02/ex-peterson-co-worker-says-he-was-asked-to-kill-savio.html

  22. I just found it strange that Suasan Murphy-Milano would say that in the audio, like I said, I played it back a few times, and made a phone call to a friend to find out if they had ever heard of this. And they had not.

  23. I hadn’t heard that either, but in all honesty, everything I’ve seen about that incident is second or third hand. I’ve never seen a statement from VC about it.

    I’ve sent SMM an email and I’ll let you know what she replies.

  25. FYI:

    HOPE LIGHTS THE WAY
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    March 24th thru 27th of 2011
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    Please share this information to anyone in this line of work and or a family of a missing person or homicide victim. To learn more about CUE Center for Missing Persons please visit us at our web sitewww.ncmissingpersons.org or email us cuecenter@aol.com

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  26. S M-M is out of town for a bit so she couldn’t give us details about the Connolly car crash.

    Bear in mind, Vicki C didn’t say anything about the car accident when she testified at the Hearsay Hearings. This makes me think that whatever her opinion may be about the cause of the incident, there’s no evidence to support it in court.

  27. Interesting blog post about psychopaths and seduction – using Drew Peterson as an example:

    Drew Peterson offers a case in point in how psychopaths manage to seduce numerous desirable women in spite of their dubious reputations. Although the evidence suggests that he mistreated his partners, Peterson obviously has great ease in reeling them in to begin with. Psychopaths tend to be very seductive—and extraordinarily dangerous—lovers. I’ll rely upon Hoda Kotb’s interview with Drew Peterson to use his case as a point of departure for describing how psychopaths use charm, deceit, money, gifts, emotional blackmail and eventually intimidation and abuse to ensnare women into their sometimes fatal nets. I’ll also make use of Robert Hare and Paul Babiak’s insights elaborated in Snakes in Suits to outline the process of psychopathic seduction, from the initial idealization, to the inevitable devaluation, to the (sometimes literal) discarding of the women they target.

    http://psychopathyawareness.wordpress.com/2011/03/27/psychopathic-seduction-the-case-of-drew-peterson/

  29. But I thought both had survived … in fact that the employee pulled Vicki to safety.

    I’m trying to find where I read that … so until then I guess it’s considered rumor.

  31. I’m very impressed with Tom’s maturity. But at the same time I can’t help but feel sad for him, and the other three children. We all know that Drew has told them he’s innocent, and they hold that belief. As their only parent, they’ve placed great faith in him. When Stacy disappeared, he told them, “she’s on vacation.”

    I’ve always held out hope that Stacy’s remains would be found and Drew charged in that case too. But after 3 and 1/2 hears, I now doubt Stacy’s remains will ever be found. I think the only possibility in that case is if someone helped Drew in the disposal and that person eventually comes forth.

    I have high hopes that Drew will eventually go to trial in the murder of Kathleen, and be found guilty, resulting in spending the rest of his life in prison.

    Someday, as adults with maturity, Tom and his brothers and sister will learn the truth, and I think there will be a lot of emotional turmoil for all of them.

    I have a friend who has always known that her father killed her mother. She was 4-years-old when it happened. Her father spent most of his life in prison, and my friend was raised by her maternal grandmother. But, my friend was more than 50-years-old when she finally felt ready to learn the details of what happened. She spent days looking at newspaper archives on microfilm of the murder and trial. Later, she went through prison records and learned that her father had been released from prison after spending 20 years for the murder. Shortly after being released from prison, he died in a car accident.

  35. Rosa Torres was faced with those decisions when she met a man over 20 years ago that became her husband who was a police officer. Their relationship with violence resulted in her receiving severe, physical battering. Rosa found herself facing a system that became numb to her cries for help. Rosa’s retelling of years living with domestic violence in her memoir Abuse Hidden Behind the Badge is a message of “self-affirmation and love of one’s self-worth” according to Anthony P. Johnson, Philadelphia political candidate.

    Tune in Tuesday, March 29th at 9 PM Eastern, 6pm Pacificto http://www.party934.com, 94.9 FM Hudson Valley, NY to hear Rosa Torres, author of Abuse Hidden Behind the Badge and learn more about her harrowing story.

  37. Hi Horses. we’re all waiting for the decision on the hearsay appeal. Once that happens, they can finally go to trial…that is unless the appellate decision is challenged and it ends up in supreme court.

    Meanwhile, I wonder how Drew is getting along with his day room buddy. The way things are going, this guy is going to finish his sentence and be out before Drew’s case goes to trial.

  38. Hi Facs….I am hopefull that the hearsay law is allowed after all it was this case that created it. Also if you think about it when a witness is killed to silence them it should be aloud so they can still speak, and it might cut down on witnesses being murdered….

  39. Keep in mind, Qhorses, that SA Glasgow no longer wants the new hearsay statute to come into play when it comes to hearsay and this trial. Judge White decided not to allow the majority of the hearsay statements based on the standards of the statute.

    The prosecution is hoping that Judge White’s decision will be tossed out and that the new judge will re-examine the evidence using the common law hearsay exceptions, which require a lower standard of reliability than the statute does.

  40. Its nice to see Tom doing well and its his mother to be thanked for that. I pray for all the children of Drew Peterson to be as Tom-living life despite the dark cloud their father put over them.

  42. How ironic would it be if we heard something on April Fool’s Day?

    I thought Drew’s attorney said he heard from his “sources” that a decision was coming soon. Still waiting … and waiting… and waiting… and waiting…

  45. maybe Tom is trying as hard as he can to become someone to be proud of to honour his mother and the legacy she left for him…also putting his whole self totally into his studies at school took his mind off of everything else going on in his life. What happened to him could have turned him good or bad. I’m glad he took the right path…

  46. It’s too bad Joel had to circulate all the PR about Harvard. Now, instead of just enjoying the fact that he was accepted to several schools and has chosen U of P, the public is left asking, “Huh,wonder what happened to Harvard?” Tom can thank Joel Brodsky for that.

  47. It just goes to show you what I’ve said all along. Whatever Brodsky says, expect the opposite. If this hasn’t happened 100% of the time, it’s damn near close. I don’t know what it is with him already, but whenever he opens his mouth to say something Peterson related, it’s because Brodsky likes to hear himself talk. The last couple of statements from him just go to prove what he’s been doing all along. He makes comments to get attention–more for himself than anyone else. Who looks like the dufus posting incorrect Appellate Court rumors and/or inaccurate Tom Peterson college choices when they turn out to be a matter of blowing out hot air?

    Remember, this is the guy that was adamant that Drew Peterson would not be charged in the Kathleen Savio matter, that he’d get his bond lowered, and that he’d be out soon. Let’s see, Peterson is approaching the two year mark of being locked up, he’s dreaming of getting himself pressed into diamonds for his kids upon his death, and he’s supposedly a tough guy, handling it all. Since Brodsky is the one that has been enlightening all of us about Drew Peterson’s coping mechanism in confinement, I’d say Peterson is probably a mass of mush about now.

  48. Joel A. Brodsky, Attorney at Law
    Drew Peterson News: Things look good for Drew’s son Thomas to get into Harvard. Tommy just returned from a trip to Boston to meet with alumni and look at the Harvard campus and things went very well. Drew is certainly a very proud dad. Also, the rumors are flying from more than one source that the appellate court decision will be handed down very shortly and that it will be a total victory for the defense. Of course these are just rumors.
    March 1 at 4:43pm · Share

    So, the purpose of these little tidbits was…..??????? Who tells him to post this stuff on his facebook page, and what’s the point when it’s idle prattle anyway? Oh, and the Appellate Court must be sleeping on the job, since they’ve disregarded the lawyer man’s prediction that a decision is near (one month ago) and it’s outcome (who knows??).

  51. This is what the Chicago Tribune reported as being some of Tom Peterson’s school choices, after interviewing him personally. Not sure if he’s asked or approves of what his father’s lawyer posts on his facebook page. Maybe he reads it when everyone else does, and doesn’t have a say in what his father’s lawyer decides to tell the public about his client’s children. In that case, what a shame.

    On the contrary, the lanky, sandy-haired teen will graduate as valedictorian from Bolingbrook High School in June. He is first in a class of 817 students, with a 4.808 GPA, and has his sights set on Harvard, Boston University, UCLA and Northwestern — to name a few — to study neuroscience. His classmates voted him most likely to succeed.

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-met-drew-peterson-son-valedictoria20110319,0,3755294.story?page=1

  54. Joel is heading out of town for a couple of weeks? Drew will have an extra visitation slot available.
    No one calling in for Joel tonight? Where are his “followers” ?

  55. Didn’t Joel say if the Appellate Court decision came down, he could be ready to go in a couple of weeks? It would appear he’s not planning on being in court anytime in April for this case. IMO

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