Dick Spotswood: Creators of Marin’s issue-based websites should identify themselves
Marin Independent Journal (archive.ph)
By Dick Spotswood
2023-04-04 17:30:22GMT
This image taken from a video posted by Internet hackers on the Greek Justice Ministry web site on Friday, Feb. 3, 2012, shows a figure in a Guy Fawkes mask reading a statement. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
“Anonymous” is a coward. That’s true when one refuses to disclose their own name when authoring or financially supporting a website, blog post, poster, letter, political advertising or whispering campaign.
Those hiding in the dark know that their message is so inflammatory that if its origin was discovered they’d be ostracized or sued for defamation. Others hiding behind the curtain understand that if the public was aware of who was behind their message, their arguments would be discredited.
Anonymous messages should be ignored and repudiated. Over the centuries, legitimate authors and pamphleteers had the courage and integrity to sign their name even when their views were unpopular.
Marin’s newest innocuously named anonymous entity is the Marin Residents PAC. The initials stand for political action committee. The group’s website (MarinResidents.org) lists no individual names nor organizations backing its effort to “inform homeowners, housing providers and renters about some of the negative consequences of extra rent control.”
It is registered with the secretary of state, but the filing has zero details. Eventually the organizers will have to disclose its cash’s source but, by then, the deed will be done.
In the recent campaign for local offices, a mysterious online group called Marin Freedom Rising “highlighted” candidates running for board offices with the Ross Valley School District, San Rafael City Schools, Novato Unified School District, Tamalpais Union High School District and Marin County Board of Education, as well as in Novato and Fairfax municipal contests.
The only name ever identified with Freedom Rising is “spokesperson” Janine Pera of Novato. No one else is mentioned in the group’s articles posted online. Might the answer to the mystery be that Marin Freedom Rising is just a tiny handful of right-wing activists?
The messaging promotes the supposed danger and unreliability of vaccines and dismisses past successful scientific efforts to stem the COVID-19 death count.
All of the highlighted candidates lost, including at least one who was well-qualified but politically blasted when linked to Marin Freedom Rising.
Until recently, the Marin chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, one of the county’s most prominent advocates for “more rent control” in municipalities, hasn’t disclosed the names of its leadership. To its credit, that has finally changed.
A blog post at marin.dsausa.org indicates the coordinating committee consists of Maegan Mattock and Christopher Perrando, both of Fairfax, Kyle Amsler and Curt Ries, both San Anselmo residents, and San Rafael’s Sonia Parecadan.
It’s never too late for transparency. It would also be revealing to learn which Marin elected officials identify with these old-time socialists.
Dick Spotswood (credit: Frankie Frost/Marin Independent Journal)
Marin Independent Journal (archive.ph)
By Dick Spotswood
2023-04-04 17:30:22GMT
This image taken from a video posted by Internet hackers on the Greek Justice Ministry web site on Friday, Feb. 3, 2012, shows a figure in a Guy Fawkes mask reading a statement. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
“Anonymous” is a coward. That’s true when one refuses to disclose their own name when authoring or financially supporting a website, blog post, poster, letter, political advertising or whispering campaign.
Those hiding in the dark know that their message is so inflammatory that if its origin was discovered they’d be ostracized or sued for defamation. Others hiding behind the curtain understand that if the public was aware of who was behind their message, their arguments would be discredited.
Anonymous messages should be ignored and repudiated. Over the centuries, legitimate authors and pamphleteers had the courage and integrity to sign their name even when their views were unpopular.
Marin’s newest innocuously named anonymous entity is the Marin Residents PAC. The initials stand for political action committee. The group’s website (MarinResidents.org) lists no individual names nor organizations backing its effort to “inform homeowners, housing providers and renters about some of the negative consequences of extra rent control.”
It is registered with the secretary of state, but the filing has zero details. Eventually the organizers will have to disclose its cash’s source but, by then, the deed will be done.
In the recent campaign for local offices, a mysterious online group called Marin Freedom Rising “highlighted” candidates running for board offices with the Ross Valley School District, San Rafael City Schools, Novato Unified School District, Tamalpais Union High School District and Marin County Board of Education, as well as in Novato and Fairfax municipal contests.
The only name ever identified with Freedom Rising is “spokesperson” Janine Pera of Novato. No one else is mentioned in the group’s articles posted online. Might the answer to the mystery be that Marin Freedom Rising is just a tiny handful of right-wing activists?
The messaging promotes the supposed danger and unreliability of vaccines and dismisses past successful scientific efforts to stem the COVID-19 death count.
All of the highlighted candidates lost, including at least one who was well-qualified but politically blasted when linked to Marin Freedom Rising.
Until recently, the Marin chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, one of the county’s most prominent advocates for “more rent control” in municipalities, hasn’t disclosed the names of its leadership. To its credit, that has finally changed.
A blog post at marin.dsausa.org indicates the coordinating committee consists of Maegan Mattock and Christopher Perrando, both of Fairfax, Kyle Amsler and Curt Ries, both San Anselmo residents, and San Rafael’s Sonia Parecadan.
It’s never too late for transparency. It would also be revealing to learn which Marin elected officials identify with these old-time socialists.
Dick Spotswood (credit: Frankie Frost/Marin Independent Journal)
