(Kootenai County GOP Central Committee Chairwoman Tina) Jacobson is demanding the identity of one or more people she believes have accused her of a crime. Of particular displeasure to the county's Republican Party leader was this question, posed on Dave Oliveria's “Huckleberries” blog after Oliveria posted a photo that included Jacobson on a stage with other Republicans: “Is that the missing $10,000 in Kootenai County Central Committee funds actually stuffed inside Tina's blouse??? Let's not try to find out.” The Spokesman-Review's attorneys argue that the comment doesn't constitute a factual assertion that Jacobson stole any money - or even that any money had gone missing. But even if it did, our question is this: How damaging is an anonymous opinion stated on a blog that makes no claim to the information being accurate or even substantially true? If someone had spray-painted the same thing on a downtown wall, would Jacobson sue the building's owner? Because what's happened here is very much like graffiti; the comment may be eye-catching but it lacks credibility because nobody is owning up to it/Coeur d'Alene Press Editorial Board. More here.

Thoughts?

Looks like the lawsuit filed by Kootenai County GOP CC Chairwoman Tina Jacobson has grown legs. The Seattle Weekly reports: “This is a story that is embarrassing to a Republican Party chair in Idaho, and you have her to thank for it. She apparently feels someone has accused her of a crime - taking $10,000 and hiding it on “her person.” This was said in a Spokane newspaper column called Huckleberries Online - not by the columnist, but by an anonymous commenter. The claim was later removed, and might have since been forgotten. But Kootenai County GOP Central Committee Chair Tina Jacobson has now filed a lawsuit to force the newspaper to identity the commenter, turning a little story into a bigger one. As a commenter says now that the bigger story has developed, 'Cool… this should be fun to watch…'/Rick Anderson, Seattle Weekly. More here.

DFO: Papers all over the state and USA Today also have reported on this lawsuit & the subpoena filed on behalf of Jacobson in an attempt to find the identity of three Huckleberries Online commenters.

Thoughts?

This week, The Spokesman-Review, through attorney Duane Swinton of Witherspoon-Kelley, will file a motion to quash the subpoena filed against the newspaper on behalf of Kootenai County GOP Central Committee Chairwoman Tina Jacobson (pictured). Jacobson is attempting to gain the identity of 3 anonymous individuals who posted on a Feb. 14 comments thread: Almost Innocent Bystander, Phaedrus and Out of Stater Tater. Jacobson has filed a lawsuit against “John and/or Jane Doe” alleging Almost Innocent Bystander libeled her in a post on Huckleberries Online. According to the lawsuit filed by Jacobson's attorney, Winston & Cashatt, “The entry as published via the internet stated there was $10,000 missing from the Republican Central Committee funds and that the missing funds were hidden on the person of Mrs. Jacobson.” The lawsuit denounces both claims as false. Jacobson's attorneys have asked that the identities of the three named posters and other documentation be made available to Winston & Cashatt, 250 Northwest Boulevard/CdA, by 10 o'clock Friday morning.

• Related: GOP chairwoman subpoenas SR, and: Tina Jacobson's lawsuit

Item: GOP leader sues anonymous commenter/Coeur d'Alene Press; And: Original HucksOnline post here

More Info: An anonymous commenter on a local blog is the target of a lawsuit filed Monday by Tina Jacobson, chair of the Kootenai County Republican Party. The suit claims a commenter using the pseudonym “almostinnocentbystander” posted libelous, defamatory statements about Jacobson in February on the Spokesman-Review's Huckleberries blog. It also alleges that several other bloggers made similar statements.

DFO: Three days after the post was made and deleted, “almostinnocentbystander” issued an apology and statement that was posted on Huckleberries Online. Click here. You can read Tina Jacobson's lawsuit here.

Thoughts?

Actually, he just left one instruction: “Don’t overdo it.”

Well. No need to worry about that :-) If you had a sub the next time you took a day off, what kind of instructions would you leave them?

OrangeTV found the first post I ever made on this blog (on 2/16/09) in the archives of Huckleberries Online. It was called “Fasten Your Seatbelts.” (As you scroll down to that post, you’ll see what the original blog thread, then called No Holds Barred, looked like. Also, you’ll notice that the first post is dated Feb. 19. For some reason I moved it from it’s starter spot — and that changed the time and date) Enjoy:

“For those who have developed a taste for Huckleberries, Hot Potatoes and other basic food groups in North Idaho, I’m taking it to the next level today … by moving on up to blogging. If you don’t know what that means, sound it out: blog, bah-log, Web log. In other words, a blog is a combination Web diary/column/train-of-consciousness thing. Here’s what I hope to accomplish with my blog:

• 1. Let folks in North Idaho know what’s going on behind the scenes in political races and North Idaho governments.
• 2. Comment on the stories of the day.
• 3. Bring important Web stories to your attention.
• 4. Use the blog to test drive new words for my Hot Potatoes columns on Sundays and Wednesdays — words such as ap-hollow-gize and institution-all-lies, which speak for themselves.

More below

I noticed in the New & Improved Comments section that Bent congratulated HBO’s southern gentleman, Brent Andrews, on his comments avatar. I congratulate you guys on pretty clever Avatars. I’m using one from this summer when Chris Wagar & I were involved in that press conference involving the couple who were cited for spanking their children at the Fourth of July Parade. I encourage you all to register (easy smeasy) and find a cool Avatar.

Question: Who has the coolest avatar so far?

As you can see by now, there’s some bugs in the roll-out of the new Huckleberries Online. But I can already see the plusses outweigh the minuses. Blogmeister Ryan & Co. fixed a bunch of things yesterday. And had 60 more work orders this morning to handle re: the new online site and blogs. He’s monitoring this site and your comments to continue to make improvements. Please use this post to provide your thoughts re: the new site.