Part 4, “The List of Suspects.”
(For earlier parts of this series, please click this link: Witch-Hunting a Blogger in Whitewater, Wisconsin.)
Later in August, a private citizen writes to our City Clerk, Michele Smith, and lets Smith know that the citizen’s husband is not John Adams. (Of course not — I’m John Adams!) It’s a sad story, really, because it shows how private citizens are caught up in all this, and worse, how a city clerk who should be working on public matters is getting emails about a list of suspects. The exchange appears below in black font, followed by the actual PDF documents I obtained, and then my commentary in blue font.
The exchange:
From: [I have removed, as I explain below]
Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2007 7:38 AM
To: Michele Smith
Subject: RE: Free Whitewater
Michele,
Please spread the word the that [I have removed husband’s name] is DEFINITELY NOT the writer behind Freewhitewater.com!!!!! I. looked at it this morning and spoke with [I have removed husband’s name] last night. You can definitely cross him off the short list of suspects’. [I have removed wife/writer’s name]
******
From: Michele Smith
Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2007 8:47 AM
To: James Coan
Subject: FW: Free Whitewater
******
From: James Coan
Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2007 9:03AM
To: ‘Wally McDonell’
Subject: FW: Free Whitewater
FYI
The files:
I have made the PDF files confirming this exchange available here — 2008-1 (3). Deletions from the City of Whitewater are in black throughout the documents, typically so that the city can shield the names of those who have complained about my blog. That’s fair enough — a person should be able to complain anonymously or pseudonymously.
There’s an inescapable contradiction, though — city officials worked to uncover my name, and left untouched the names of private citizens they suspected of being me, and deleted only the names of those who complained about me.
My deletions, of the names of private citizens, often ones ‘suspected’ of being me, are in red. Coan and those who aided him bandied about names of private citizens, and those names are in the documents that I received, but I will not display those names the way these public officials shamefully discussed them among themselves.
My comments:
1. Suspects. Look at the language that the citizen uses, and that the city clerk forwards along, uncorrected: suspects. It appears again, as you’ll see, in subsequent documents. It’s the language of the criminal law — those who are believed to have committed crimes are suspects.
I have engaged in lawful, constitutionally-protected speech of our American political heritage. I have committed no crimes, but they refer to me as a suspect. On my blog, I list others who have written pseudonymously: “Many of the greatest men of this republic published anonymously, among them Hamilton, Madison, Jay, Paine, and occasionally, John Adams himself.” I am just a common man, but I am no more a suspect than they were.
2. A List. Is the term ‘list’ merely figurative? I don’t know, but somehow a private citizen writes our city clerk, uses the term, and insists that her husband be taken off that short list. I have no idea how the woman knew there was a list, inquiry, or set of suspects, at all. The city clerk passes the information to Coan, who forwards it to our city attorney (‘Wally McDonell’).
Coan never writes back and rebukes the clerk — on the contrary — he forwards the email on! One more, I suppose, to cross off that list.
3. Involving Private People. It is the sign of a troubled police and political culture where private citizens are encouraged or motivated to aid in a political witch-hunt. As you’ll see in subsequent posts, Coan relies on private citizens, caught up in the fervor of it all, to help him try to identify me. This is how a public official, with a distorted perspective, leads private citizens astray.
Next Up on Monday, March 3rd at 3 PM CST: Part 5, “Running Plates on Citizen Photographers.”