West Hollywood politics, already a province of amateurish antics, were made ugly on Saturday when a friend contacted me about a vile email that went out under my name to untold numbers of people. This is clearly the work of someone impersonating me. The fake email address from which this missive was sent is the same email that has been used to submit commentary under my name to this publication.
Based on the writer’s obsession with dismissing me as an aging boomer (I am, in fact, a product of the tail end of the Baby Boomer generation) and other obvious clues, I am highly confident of the identity of the fraudster. One must wonder on whose behalf and with whose coordination they are acting as they seek to spread their disgusting narrative.
I know that I have a history of expressing strong opinions in this publication, and elsewhere, and I attach my name to them and own them. I have shown up multiple times to speak at city council and commission meetings and I never back down from calling truth to power. My words and actions have led to developing friendships with many other civic-minded residents, and they have also earned me a fair number of detractors who often criticize me in the comfort of anonymity.
The child’s play at work in this fraud will not intimidate me from continuing to care about and express opinions about the antics of our city bureaucracy. It might offend those who are attempting to pull the wool over our eyes, and it should. Representative government is about representing us as residents of West Hollywood and when it is not living up to that expectation, it must be called out.
I believe that it is our civic obligation to question everything. Take nothing as gospel without fully analyzing it. In the words of the former publisher of the now defunct WeHoVille, “if your mother says she loves you, ask questions.”
Truth in politics has long been a virtue that is stretched to implausibility and beyond. Campaign seasons are rife with exaggerations and outright lies in the pursuit of real or perceived power, or indeed in the pursuit of the mere trappings of office.
We are about to be bombarded with campaign bullpucky unlike any we have seen before in our once fair hamlet. The stakes are higher because it has now become the clear goal of some on council to use that office as a springboard to higher offices. There will be more distortions, more manipulations, and frankly, more outright lies. Or, sadly, there will be blatant fraud as in the disgusting missive attributed to me.
To be clear, I did not write and send the awkward and rambling statement on Larry Block’s candidacy. These words do not reflect my views. Beyond comments on the service of incumbents as relates to their current tenure, I have made only one statement of support for a candidate in the 2024 election cycle. When I do decide to make additional statements in a public format, rest assured you will recognize the style and tone of my writing and I will own those words without reservation, as I always do.
It is so easy to fake an email source. This is known as “Spoofing.”
Setting up a fake email is very easy, but having a send list that mirrors the person you are faking is tough. I wonder how they got one.
Thanks for bringing light to this, Alan. Weak minded people consider those that think for themselves a threat, and I’ll never understand it.
Alan doesn’t make any explicit accusations as to who sent out the fraudulent emails, but people who’ve paid attention to the contentious transition of this platform’s ownership can certainly read between the lines.
Getting more difficult to avoid the mud-slininging, product of low intelligence and lack of other outlets for pent up frustrations. Back in 1959m when I was banging around in the newspaper trade in Boston,
my editor called the days prior to elections as “the silly season” and to expect more nonsense than reality. I wrote a piece titled The Silly Season sometime ago for wehoonlime’s predecessor. And, as for you Alan, I relax one of my prime requirements for Council candidate, (should you ever consider)and accept the strength of your wisdom at age 31. Hang in there!
Wow, this is awful. The level that certain factions of society steep to, is super concerning for the future of this country.
Internet fraud is a huge issue. While it is fairly easy to set up a ghost email account, you need a send list associated with the person you are pretending to be. I wonder how this person got a list of email addresses so closely attached to you Alan. There are many laws around email usage, so please report to the FTC and FBI.
While I don’t always agree with your point of view, I am sorry this happened. I received the emails today. I was a little shocked. I indeed hope you find the fraudster and take whatever legal recourse you might have.
I’m sorry to hear about this, Alan. You always present your thoughts and opinions appropriately, whether people agree with them or not. I wish I had your courage to use my name here but what is happening to you is what I fear could happen to others (self-included). I hope you discover who is behind this and let us all know, as it’s always useful to know the sociopaths amongst us.
Congrats Fraudster, you just cemented this Boomer-cusp voters second choice. If you hate Alan and Larry that much then Block has my vote.
Alan’s letter was a little confusing because he referred to”a missive.” So I checked with him and found out that neither of those posts, the one titled “my apology” and the one titled “Larry Block for city Council” were authored by him! Both were fraudulent and also disgusting! It’s hard to believe that people would sink so low as to pull dirty tricks like this, but sadly it is true. I have seen it happen more than once in our little city. When Lauren Meister was running for city council, someone did a hit piece on her too. Luckily, it… Read more »
Clarification: Both emails pictured were sent fraudulently under my name using the fake email address.
That seemed clear after reading both.
That absolutely sucks and I hope s/he gets the the deserved punishment.
Sorry you are dealing with this.