Trolls, trolls everywhere, trash-typing from behind their anonymizers, polluting the Web with execrations that would get them flushed in the real world. Besides viruses, trolls are the worst part of the Internet.
While most trolls spew mindless insults for the sake of insult, there’s an especially toxic undercurrent in the sewage: Those anonymous or pseudonymous postings that are clearly not mindless, but deliberate, mindful deceptions from people with vested interests they don’t want to reveal. Sound familiar?
Sure … especially when you realize that trolls have always lurked among us, not just since Al Gore invented the Internet.
Every campaign season, we open our mailbox and there it is, a glossy bulk-mail “Ask Candidate Smith to Stop Torturing Puppies” card, paid for by “You’ve Never Heard of Us and Never Will Again, But Trust Us.”
One fine, glowing example was last spring, when select Montana voters were treated to mystery mailings and ads from “Main Street Advocacy” (MSA), a Political Action Committee (PAC) which dumped $20,000 on 13 state legislative races, all Republican primaries.
The effort was organized by state Sen. John Bruggeman (R-Polson), who told Lee Newspapers reporter Mike Dennison he wanted to see “rational conservatives” elected. Well, the “irrational” conservatives then turned around and formed an unregistered “Assembly Action Group” to respond (illegally) to MSA’s effort.
Where MSA got the funds it spent (by hiring Beryllium, a company that seems to exist only on MSA’s filing form) isn’t specified in its filings with Montana. I contacted MSA’s accountant (in North Carolina): “We don’t release our donors.”
However, there are two transactions involving $10,000 of “SEIU Healthcare 775NW” funds being contributed May 13, and refunded May 22. Turns out that checking the legality of MSA’s efforts with Montana Political Practices was tasked to Ted Dick, Service Employees International Union (SEIU)’s Montana political director. Dick has also done paid work in the past for the Democratic Party.
Seems like Bruggeman is more afraid of his fellow Republicans than he is of Democrats, doesn’t it?
Right here at home, we have been treated to print ads and a flurry of fancy cardstock mailings attacking Republican candidates, produced by the so-called North Valley PAC (NVPAC). On the cards is a “This-Sludge-Is-All-True-To-The-Best-Of-My-Knowledge” disclaimer signature – a completely illegible scrawl.
Well, NVPAC has duly filed with Montana Political Practices. NVPAC’s President is Dianne Grove of Whitefish, a minor Democratic Party contributor and, according to Flathead County records, a party precinct committeewoman. She’s written the Whitefish Pilot encouraging people to come to a September fundraiser for Will Hammerquist, Derek Skees’ opponent. NVPAC’s Secretary is Joan Vetter Ehrenberg, a recent past chair of the Flathead Democrats. Steven Braun, publicly listed as required as NVPAC’s treasurer, is a Whitefish artist.
All three denied signing the disclaimer statement, and claimed no idea who actually did. I guess we’ll just have to wait until after the election (when it’s too late to matter) to find out who did what, why, and paid for it all, eh? Ah, but that’s the whole point behind creating a PAC.
Why do these nasty, dishonest PACs – left, right, or corporate – keep popping up and disappearing in Montana? Notwithstanding the recent corporate-funding court ruling, under state law, your individual support of a state candidate is limited to $160 to $500 per election.
But if you want to set up a PAC to assassinate the character of the other candidate, guess what? No individual contribution limits! Yahoo!
Never mind that it’s always safer to toss election dirty bombs from behind a shield of anonymity – especially if your enemy wins the election and you wind up lobbying them as a doe-eyed, innocent constituent.
Our brainless state law makes for a no-brainer – and it’s no wonder so few decent, talented people run for office. The field belongs to those with extraordinarily thick skins, thick wallets, or as is too often the case, extraordinarily thick skulls – and there are lowlifes who like it that way.
So, next time you get a mailer from some PAC you’ve never heard of, remember, these folks want your vote, for an agenda they want to hide from you. In a word, trolls.
On Election Day, don’t feed the trolls.