It was hard to tell whether John Green (show above making a point to his passionate fans in the audience last night) was running for sheriff of Kootenai County or against civility and the local blogosphere during a debate last night, sponsored by the Coeur d'Alene Police Officers Association and the Coeur Group. When asked by the Coeur Group moderators to pose a question to one other candidate, Green refused, stating that the exercise was "tacky and unprofessional." But he saved his best for HucksOnline and the blogosphere. Green bristled when a questioner asked him about comment he'd read here involving prisoner housing in tents, saying he had nothing to do with anything here. This, despite the fact that he'd encouraged his readers on the John Green for Sheriff Web site earlier this week to vote on our poll for sheriff (in which he finished a distant third). In his closing statement (after refusing to answer a second question posed to him by the Coeur Group, Green said he didn't want the votes of the "cowardly people" who pass their time commenting on blogs -- you know, the type who "hide in the dark and spread hate." Green challenged the local media to clean up this kind of conduct and finished by saying that blog comments are "already reaching a fever pitch and we're not into May yet." BTW, later he wrote this on his Web site from home: "Just home from the Coeur d'Alene Police Officers Association Forum. No doubt the HBO'ers will have plenty to vent about tomorrow."

DFO: BTW, Green suggests on his Web page that I caught off the voting in the sheriff's poll because the votes of his followers were beginning to affect the numbers. As you know, my polls last for about a day, roughly beginning at roughly 10:30. No conspiracy here. Simply time to start a new poll. With his "surge," Green had attracted 24 (7.45%) of 320 votes.

Thoughts?

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