Pat Edmonson, candidate for LG, has filed suit against an anonymous blogger running a website opposed to her.
Hurling homophobic and racial slurs, an unidentified blogger has launched an Internet attack on lieutenant governor candidate Pat Edmonson.
Campaign officials said the barbs began with e-mails sent in recent weeks and have migrated to an anti-Edmonson Web site.
In my post yesterday, I failed to mention that the emails had morphed into a website, mainly because the last thing I want to do is direct traffic to a hate site. But the MSM, in its infinite wisdom, saw fit to mention the name of the site. Idiots.
More than that, take a look at the responses in the linked article, this one in particular:
If you can’t take the heat, get outta the kitchen. Why is it these weak candidates for elected positions want to hide behind political correctness to ward off attacks? Could it be that they are so weak in their stands and believes that they cannot withstand the rights of free speech? If the accusations are not true, then the facts are revealed in when the dust settles. If there is credibility to the accusations, then the candidates true self will be revealed. For a candidate to try to stop anyone’s free speech rights tells me I wouldn’t want that candidate in an elected seat. I don’t know this lady, read the referenced blog and never intend to. I do know that I wouldn’t vote for someone so weak that they have to hide behind the PC rock to dodge issues.
AKA “politics as usual,” just as I predicted the response would be. Blame the victim – they must have done something wrong.
The writer doesn’t know the candidate, hasn’t read her positions, yet is perfectly willing to give credibility to the attacker. What is wrong with this picture?
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
I find it hard to see what legal basis Edmonson has for filing a lawsuit in this case.
The blog posts are offensive, but they’re hardly defamatory under the heightened standard that would have to be met since she is a public figure.
And I find the part of the story where part of the relief sought being that she wants to blog shut down to be very disturbing to say the least.
I notice that she started a “Fight the Smears” section on her website. That’s the proper response to this, not a lawsuit that does little more than make me wonder what her committment to the First Amendment is.
Just a point of clarification:
The lawsuit (Edmonson V. Google) was prompted by emails containing threats against the candidate. These threats represent criminal activity and the purpose of the lawsuit is to obtain the identity of the people responsible so that they may be brought to justice.
As has been indicated in several communications from the Edmonson campaign, Pat believes in free speech rights and respects aspects of the internet that make it easier for people to communicate ideas, opposition, etc. Pat does not believe those rights extend to anonymous threats of physical harm.
Conner Morris
Communications Director
Pat Edmonson for Lieutenant Governor
“Free Speech Rights”!!??
They have never included the right to slander or threaten.
Anon,
It is nearly impossible to recover under slander or libel claim against a public person such as Edmonson thanks to the Supreme Court’s decision in cases like NY Times v. Sullivan and Jerry Falwell’s lawsuit against Hustler Magazine.
Since the emails in question have not been made public we don’t know if they are actual threats or more of the same drivel that’s posted on the blog in question. If it’s the latter, then I don’t think that’s sufficient to overcome the First Amendment presumptions or breach the poster’s anonymity.
What’s wrong with this picture? Everything. Thanks for bringing the latest, Vivian.
I am so disgusted.
C.M.,
Unfortunately it looks like your candidate is going too far with this lawsuit.
Yes free speech does not apply to anonymous threats of physical harm. If your goal is to identify the individual making the threats, it is improper to be suing google. Google didn’t defame P.E., but is merely a source of information about the blogger. There are procedures for obtaining this information in a civil action, but it is generally sanctionable to sue the hosting service in G.D.C. to obtain discoverable information for use in a separate lawsuit against the blogger.
Further if the ONLY actual goal of this lawsuit is to obtain identifying information about the blogger for criminal enforcement issues, then every action taken in the lawsuit is an abuse of process.
The police play a role in society, they investigate crimes. They can get the information much faster than private members of society can through civil actions. Further the police won’t leave an obvious trail in a court file for others to peruse while investigating this matter. If safety of the candidate is the goal, let the police do their jobs.
This lawsuit needs thee intervention of an attorney on P.E.’s behalf.
reston libertarian,
Not to mention that I’m pretty sure that GDC doesn’t have jurisdiction to order Google to do anything.
If I remember correctly the Stop Pat Edmonson site is not to different from the site created by vbdems to Stop Thelma Drake. The comments are mean spirited and may be offensive but they are the opinion of the writer. I did not see any racial slurs or threats on the website.
47 U.S.C. § 223 might apply.
Is a Virginia general district court the proper venue for an interstate telecommunications action?
Whether it does or not, I am not aware of any circumstance under which a General District Court is authorized to issue an injunction, which is what would have to be done to order Google to turn over the name of the anonymous blogger.
I think that this, once again, shows how Pat Edmonson stands exactly by her views, and practices what she preaches. With any luck, this is simply a representation of the work she will do as Lieutenant Governor for equal rights throughout Virginia.
Where is this blog?
The blog itself is pretty uninteresting. It’s the kind of juvenile tripe found all too often at blogs with large user bases such as Free Republic or Daily Kos. The best cure for the blog is to ignore it.
The cause for legal concern is the Edmonson campaign’s claim that she has received death threats. Those were not on the blog when I looked at it yesterday, and none of them has been made public as far as I know.
Randy,
To be fair, the blog reads like it was written by a high school sophomore who tapped in to mom and dad’s liquor cabinet.
While I usually disagree with them, I’d say that most Freepers or Kos Kids are usually just a bit more cohorent than whoever is writing that tripe.