Officials Criticize Anonymous Postings
By Philip Rucker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Phillip Coons is a quiet man. He says he's a bad writer and an even worse public speaker. He's good with technology, though, and he knows how to create Web sites.
So when the 61-year-old Navy veteran from Waldorf became interested in Charles County politics during last year's campaign, he launched a blog so that he could comment freely about politics, mostly about the county commissioners races.
"I'm not really a very good blogger, to tell you the truth," Coons said last week. "Somebody described me once as a political cartoonist that can't draw. I don't know if it's supposed to be a slam or what."
Within a few months, his blog, the Delusional Duck, took off. A year later, it has become a local political phenomenon. The site averages about 1,000 hits per day, Coons said -- the vast majority of which come from within the county.
"A niche blog about something as small as Charles County?" said Coons, who works as a technology consultant with the federal government. "It just went beyond my wildest dreams."
Coons and four anonymous writers opine around the clock. Last week, Coons posted items at 2 and 3:25 a.m. Bloggers in the "Duck Pond," as they call it, write mostly about Charles government. They critique local newspaper articles and trade rumors, some of which are false.
They tend to oppose growth and development, and their comments are more likely to be politically conservative than liberal. Coons said that he and one anonymous writer are registered independents and that the other three are registered Republicans.
The bloggers have been particularly critical of the county commissioners. That isn't surprising, considering the blog endorsed only one commissioner, Reuben B. Collins (D-Waldorf), in the 2006 general election.
Coons has so much to say about the commissioners that he launched a new blog, CooperWatch, on Aug. 16 to opine about Charles, a county Coons writes has been in "an uncontrolled downward spiral" since the reelection of commissioners President Wayne Cooper (D).
Coons's blogs are not the only ones prompted by recent disputes over public issues in Charles. Hughesville Village emerged during the debate more than two years ago over plans to put a minor league baseball stadium nearby. Residents of the eastern Charles community rose up in opposition, and a new site was begun in Waldorf.
"Our county's growing. Everybody knows that," Coons said. "The commissioners are banking on the fact that most of the voters don't [care] unless it's happening right in their back yard."
When asked what he thought of Coons creating a blog named for him, Cooper said he is pleased.
"I'm honored that somebody's watching and somebody cares," Cooper said. "We're making change, and that's what we were elected to do by the majority of citizens. Those are the things we're doing, but if we're stepping on some toes, so be it.
"Change brings forth criticism," he said. "People have a hard time adapting to change. It's hard on me, too. But I think change in the long run is for the better."
The blog has drawn much attention from county government. Without providing specific figures, Coons said a large number of visitors to the Delusional Duck are logging in from county government computers.
If you mention "Duck" in the halls of the county government building in La Plata, people know what you're talking about -- "the blog," they call it.
Cooper said it bothers him that the blog spreads rumors, particularly about political and county personnel matters.
"A lot of the things on the blog, as I understand, are fictitious," he said. "They destroy people's characters and use vulgarity. But if it's on the up-and-up, no problem. I go back to what I learned as a kid, which is to treat people the way you want to be treated."
Commissioner Edith J. Patterson (D-Pomfret) -- who, like Cooper, is a frequent target of the bloggers -- said she is appalled at the personal attacks she reads on the site.
"I sometimes look at what they're doing, and I'm simply astounded at how they can take the truth and twist it their way," Patterson said. "I would respect the blog if they had accurate and fair information, but for them to just keep spewing this hatred and resentment, I think it just festers whatever hatred that they have."
Patterson said she is particularly troubled that four of the five writers post their comments under fictitious names.
"They're cowards behind a blog," she said. "Certainly we as commissioners make our comments in the open, and we're frank and honest. So if someone has a comment to make or a question or whatever, they should be forthright and come forth and say who they are."
Coons said he regrets that his fellow bloggers write anonymously.
"I've always blogged under my own name," he said. "I figured somebody had to take the blame if something went wrong. Everybody seems to police themselves very well on the Duck. It doesn't get out of hand too often."
When asked whether he has any regrets about the site, Coons said he wished he had more diversity of opinion.
Coons said he thinks the commissioners would be wise to launch a blog to defend their policies. "If those commissioners had any sense at all, they would have [press secretary] George Clarkson develop a commissioners blog," Coons said. "Of course, the comments would be moderated, but when something comes up, something unpopular, they can put something up on the blog.
"If the commissioners tried," he said, "they could put us blogs right out."
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