text: "that i sin fact what happened."
  
  I assume you have a factual basis for this assertion?
  
  "If there was an obligation for Joe to return borrowed goods it should have been made clear 6 years ago."
  So you're just speculating.  Did you read a different article than I did?  "Federal rules required the fliers to be handled by volunteers, not paid party staff, and when the mailings were done, one of the volunteers . . . asked party officials if he could dispose of them."  This indicates that the GOP determined for the fliers to be disposed of, or as you put it, "made clear 6 years ago."
  
  Though now I am having an amusing mental image of Joe Miller dumpster diving for thousands of mailers.