Mr. Moore's Mirthless Musings Mostly Malarkey

In a letter in last week’s Gazette, James R. Moore took an undeserved swipe at Crotonblog for posting and allowing anonymous commentaries whose tone does not please some who read them.

Not so fast, Mr. Moore; anonymous speech is protected. The Supreme Court has repeatedly reaffirmed the constitutional right to speak anonymously. In MacIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission, the Court wisely wrote, “Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority.” Further, in Talley v. California, the court said that “an identification requirement would tend to restrict freedom to distribute information and thereby freedom of expression.”

At Crotonblog, we tend to think it’s the transparency of blogging that has gotten Mr. Moore’s goat. Unlike letters in newspapers, blog readers can immediately interact with an article, letter or comment for the world to read and respond to in kind—a far cry from a “chat room.”

Two lies appeared in Mr. Moore’s letter that demand correction: First, Mr. Moore made it appear that the anti-Regus Industries letters from Massachusetts and Ohio were official communications from each state. Hardly. Each was written in form-letter style by a Maria Cudequest out-of-state cohort.

Second, Mr. Moore, a Republican, counseled readers not to trust anyone in politics. That’s not surprising. His hero, George W. Bush, has been called this country’s worst president for reasons that become increasingly apparent with each passing day. What Mr. Moore really means is don’t trust anyone except the Schmidt-Brennan-Konig team.

But that, too, is not surprising, although it’s closer to belly-laughable. Greg Schmidt and his team were totally dishonest in the run up to the recent village election. For example, they created a number plucked out of thin air and said baselessly that 30,000 trucks would rumble through the village if the “cash for trash trio” of Gallelli, Kane and Wiegman succeeded in re-opening what they insist on calling “the dump.” How about the lower-than-a-snake’s belly tone of that attack?

Yet, pseudo-faithful candidate Susan Konig told the biggest whopper of all. While campaigning, she publicly slandered Ann Gallelli by saying she had her driveway plowed by the village. So deceitful was his running mate’s behavior, Mayor-elect Schmidt apologized at the village board meeting on election day eve for his part in “election season craziness.”

So, Mr. Moore, if that’s the kind of integrity that floats your boat, we wish you well on your journey.

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