Time to put the old partisanship that I’m so well-known for (at least in the Deeds campaign) and defend fellow blogger Vivian Paige.
Norfolk’s City Attorney sent Paige a letter [1] using the power of government threatening charges of “defamation and violation of privacy” if she didn’t delete a comment and turn over the name and email address of the commenter.
Who prompted it? Commissioner of Revenue Sharon McDonald was CCd on the letter, so it’s likely either the City Attorney reads blogs during work hours, Sharon McDonald complained, or an unnamed City Council member prompted the action.
My first thought was, if this is about defamation, why not the Commonwealth’s Attorney? Why the city attorney?
Vivian, as is her style, posted a response [2] that must have Norfolk officials staring at shoelaces for wasting time on such nonsensical jabber.
It’s sad that local city attorneys spend more time monitoring a blog than researching the legal standing of their demands on a blogger about comments other people make.
Someone in the city owes Vivian a huge apology, and fast. The way it looks to me, that apology should come from at least two offices.
Couldn’t help this one, though – Vivian included a quote from Christina Nuckols – “It’s too easy to become hermetically sealed in the campaign bubble and grow indifferent to the outside world.” Also true of an editorial board, methinks.