The TrueDialog.org Blog - with Carl Lindemann

Disclosures

Lance Dutson is owner of Maine Coast Design, a web development and internet consulting company. He is also Director of Internet Strategy for the Collins for Senator campaign. All views expressed on this blog are the personal opinion of Lance Dutson, and should not be construed as official statements of either organization.

Bravo! However, this hardly answers the issues raised in my opinion piece published in the Bangor Daily News last month. In fact, this policy underscores what's problematic about such an arrangement. It enables stealth smear campaigns:

Can the director of Internet operations for the Collins’ campaign honestly claim that his commentary on the Collins-Allen race is "independent" of the Collins re-election effort? If he makes vile or vicious comments about Allen and his allies, shouldn’t his patron be concerned? What about when he engages in name-calling, as he did recently referring to one blog with a national reputation as a "hate-site" or another as a "foul-mouthed fem-blog"? Does this reflect the "moderate" values that Collins seeks to promote, or does it stoke the flames of partisan polarization she claims to oppose?

To suggest that campaign operatives can break ranks with the official stance without it reflecting on the candidate is an invitation to abuse. It opens the door to smear campaigns where staffers are free to assail and insult opponents. If anyone takes issue with this conduct, the candidate can deny responsibility. It encourages candidates to amp up the dirty tactics — just offload them to "personal" Web sites where there is no accountability.

Now what inspired this Collins campaign operative to post this so many weeks after the issue was raised? Could it be these questions I sent to the campaign for a piece that will be published shortly (I just interviewed Dutson's "associate" Robert Cox, author of the piece in the Examiner that set off the flap about Google/Collins, etc...see last two entries below). What did the Collins campaign have to say? No, they did not respond. Check the full list in the e-mail here, or the highlights below:

Please respond the following questions:

What, if any, of Mr. Dutson’s activities in this matter are authorized and/or reviewed and/or approved by the Collins campaign.

Did Dutson communicate this good faith attempt on Google’ part to rectify the situation? If not, why not?

During Mr. Dutson’s TV appearance on “Fox & Friends” on October 12, he makes the following assertion that indicates that he has, perhaps, received additional information about “what goes on behind the scenes at Google”:

“It turns out that MoveOn(.org) filed a complaint after the ad ran for several days. And when Google received their complaint that their trademark was being violated they went ahead and pulled the ad.”

Question: What evidence does Mr. Dutson have to support this assertion? If Mr. Dutson does not have evidence to support this assertion, does the campaign now retract it?

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SUPPORT TRUE DIALOG News Blog Mission About Links Policies Contact BLOG ARCHIVE INDEX	Commentary by TrueDialog.org's Founder, Carl Lindemann October 18 -The Senator & Accountability for Underlings NOTE: I made a disclosure about my relation/previous connections with the Collins campaign when I first started covering this in September. But by now, that disclosure statement is well down on the page. So I will now include this link at the top of postings on anything tied to the Collins/Allen race: DISCLOSURE STATEMENT Now, without further adieu... Senator Collins' campaign operative has finally posted a highly visible disclosure statement on his site. His relationship to the campaign is no longer tucked away in his bio (see The Dutson Defense, Sept. 5 below): Disclosures Lance Dutson is owner of Maine Coast Design, a web development and internet consulting company. He is also Director of Internet Strategy for the Collins for Senator campaign. All views expressed on this blog are the personal opinion of Lance Dutson, and should not be construed as official statements of either organization. Bravo! However, this hardly answers the issues raised in my opinion piece published in the Bangor Daily News last month. In fact, this policy underscores what's problematic about such an arrangement. It enables stealth smear campaigns: Can the director of Internet operations for the Collins’ campaign honestly claim that his commentary on the Collins-Allen race is "independent" of the Collins re-election effort? If he makes vile or vicious comments about Allen and his allies, shouldn’t his patron be concerned? What about when he engages in name-calling, as he did recently referring to one blog with a national reputation as a "hate-site" or another as a "foul-mouthed fem-blog"? Does this reflect the "moderate" values that Collins seeks to promote, or does it stoke the flames of partisan polarization she claims to oppose? To suggest that campaign operatives can break ranks with the official stance without it reflecting on the candidate is an invitation to abuse. It opens the door to smear campaigns where staffers are free to assail and insult opponents. If anyone takes issue with this conduct, the candidate can deny responsibility. It encourages candidates to amp up the dirty tactics — just offload them to "personal" Web sites where there is no accountability. Now what inspired this Collins campaign operative to post this so many weeks after the issue was raised? Could it be these questions I sent to the campaign for a piece that will be published shortly (I just interviewed Dutson's "associate" Robert Cox, author of the piece in the Examiner that set off the flap about Google/Collins, etc...see last two entries below). What did the Collins campaign have to say? No, they did not respond. Check the full list in the e-mail here, or the highlights below: Please respond the following questions: What, if any, of Mr. Dutson’s activities in this matter are authorized and/or reviewed and/or approved by the Collins campaign. Did Dutson communicate this good faith attempt on Google’ part to rectify the situation? If not, why not? During Mr. Dutson’s TV appearance on “Fox & Friends” on October 12, he makes the following assertion that indicates that he has, perhaps, received additional information about “what goes on behind the scenes at Google”: “It turns out that MoveOn(.org) filed a complaint after the ad ran for several days. And when Google received their complaint that their trademark was being violated they went ahead and pulled the ad.” Question: What evidence does Mr. Dutson have to support this assertion? If Mr. Dutson does not have evidence to support this assertion, does the campaign now retract it? *** What is Authenticity? The Wages of Spin Project Spin Shop Ideas & Essays Spin Shops, State by State
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