On the cover: Richard Salzman shakes hands with Deputy DA Worth Dikeman
From the Publisher: An apology
by JUDY HODGSON
September 1, 2005
http://www.northcoastjournal.com/090105/pub0901.html
This is a long overdue apology to our readers.
As you will learn in this week's cover story, this newspaper and every other newspaper in the county we have researched so far have been victims of a letter-writing hoax. We printed a letter in June from a reader who had written before, whose letters had appeared in other newspapers, without calling to verify the letter's authenticity.
It was a fake name, one he used to influence public opinion in the best-read section of any paper -- the letters to the editor. This deception, we learned this past week, has been ongoing for months, much to our embarrassment, and we sincerely apologize.
The letter writer isn't just an ordinary reader. He is a political activist, and a volunteer and sometimes paid consultant for many liberal causes. He worked on the campaign to elect Jill Geist as county supervisor, Paul Gallegos' initial run for district attorney and Chris Kerrigan's bid for re-election to the Eureka City Council. He was a key player in the successful fight against Gallegos' recall attempt. And he has been an outspoken critic of Pacific Lumber Co. and Debi August, a Fortuna City Council member indicted by the grand jury for conflict of interest. (August's case was later dismissed.)
During our investigation, we learned he wrote frequently under several names, including, occasionally, his own -- Richard Salzman.
By perpetrating this hoax, Salzman betrayed the public, especially the people who have supported his causes. Citizens on the other side of these important issues will long remember his deception. There were many thoughtful, passionate, sincere letter writers during the same period of time who will now have their very existence called into question because of Salzman's deception.
Some readers may ask if our headline, "Web of lies," is too harsh. I don't think so. To write letters under an assumed name is a lie in itself. Then, when we confronted him with the evidence of his deceit last Friday, he initially denied it. It was only after a face-to-face confrontation Monday in our office, and a few more hours of private reflection, that he admitted his deception.
Salzman now claims he has some right to use a "pen name." Maybe in writing fiction, but not in the news business. Political careers and important causes are advanced or maimed based on how the news unfolds, and cynical attempts to twist the contents of newspapers to one's own end should be roundly condemned, whether the twister is Salzman or Karl Rove. Geist has long distanced herself from Salzman; Gallegos and Kerrigan should do the same.
We spent staff time this past week reviewing all letters published in the Journal in the last two and a half years. In addition to those originated by Salzman, we have published a few others whose authenticity we cannot yet verify, meaning we cannot find the authors in any of our databases nor can we contact them by phone or e-mail. Our promise to readers is to do our best to screen letters in the future, and to investigate any and all attempts to falsely and covertly manipulate public opinion.
-- -- --
We also learned this past week of what we hope will be the penultimate chapter in the pepper spray saga. The judge in the case, which found that Humboldt County and the city of Eureka police officers used excessive force in dealing with anti-logging demonstrators in 1997, ruled that the plaintiffs are entitled to recover legal fees. (The ultimate chapter will be when the attorneys actually get paid.)
As we have editorialized many times these past eight years, the county supervisors and the Eureka City Council should have condemned the actions of their officers -- under orders of then-Sheriff Dennis Lewis, who bears ultimate responsibility -- and they should have offered to settle with the victims. Fighting this case every step of the way has been a failure to accept responsibility all along the chain of command and has been extremely costly to taxpayers. The tab so far is in the millions.
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WEB OF LIES
Richard Salzman and other e-mail phonies
September 1, 2005
http://www.northcoastjournal.com/090105/cover0901.html
On the cover: Richard Salzman shakes hands with Deputy DA Worth Dikeman
at a Dikeman press conference earlier this year. Photo by Hank Sims.
by HANK SIMS
For at least the last 10 months, controversial political figure Richard Salzman has authored numerous letters to local newspapers under fake names, the Journal has learned. The letters, which were signed "R. Trent Williams" and "Dick Wyatt," were published in the Journal and the Eureka Reporter, the only two local newspapers with extensive online archives. It is believed that they also appeared in other publications.
Nearly every hot political topic to hit Humboldt County in the past year is addressed in the letters -- from the aftermath of the failed recall attempt on District Attorney Paul Gallegos (during which Salzman was the DA's campaign chairman) to the battle over the new county general plan, Eureka City Councilman Chris Kerrigan's reelection, the threatened boycott of Arcata and the backlash against Salzman himself.
Acting on a complaint from Fortuna resident Rhonda Meehan (see sidebar), the Journal contacted Salzman Friday afternoon to ask if he had, in fact, written letters to the editor using phony names. He said that he had not.
"The only letters I write are the ones you see from me," he said. He added that he had never heard of "R. Trent Williams," but that Fortuna resident Dick Wyatt was a political colleague.
In a follow-up telephone conversation that evening, Salzman at first sought to dismiss Meehan's claims, saying that Meehan was "clearly a hard-core Dikeman supporter." (Deputy District Attorney Worth Dikeman has announced that he will challenge Gallegos for the post of district attorney next year).
However, on Monday, after being presented with hard evidence collected by the Journal that supported Meehan's allegations, Salzman recanted and issued a partial confession.
In a statement delivered to the Journal Monday afternoon, Salzman confessed that he had submitted letters to the editor under a "pen name."
"The use of pen names has been a common practice throughout history," Salzman wrote. "It is important to know I stand behind the substance of everything contained in all the letters I submitted."
Salzman's change of story came after he met with the Journal in our offices Monday morning to review the information supporting Meehan's case that this newspaper collected Friday afternoon and over the weekend.
After reading Meehan's complaint, the Journal looked closely at identifying information in e-mails from Salzman stored on our computers, then at similar information in the single e-mail from "R. Trent Williams" that we retained. We also looked at the e-mail purportedly sent by "Dick Wyatt" that Meehan referenced, which we received but did not publish.
A careful read of the e-mail "headers" -- addressing information at the top of the message that most e-mail programs hide -- showed that both the "Williams" and the "Wyatt" e-mails contained the IP address of the computer that sent them (see sidebar). These addresses matched addresses used by Salzman in the same period.
The "Williams" e-mail (sent May 23, 2005) and the "Wyatt" e-mail (July 9, 2005) both originated from a computer using the IP address 68.230.244.48. All the e-mails that we had received from Salzman between March 3, 2005, and July 5, 2005, were from a computer using the same address. (The first e-mail we received from Salzman after the "Wyatt" e-mail was dated early August, by which time his IP lease of that address had apparently expired.)
Over the weekend, the Arcata Eye provided this newspaper with copies of e-mails it had received from "Williams" -- one dated Dec. 16, 2004, and one dated Aug. 4, 2005. The Journal compared the IP address information contained in the Eye e-mails to the same information in e-mails known to be sent by Salzman at those times. In both cases, the IP addresses matched. In mid-December, both Salzman and "Williams" were using IP address 68.105.22.128; in early August, both were using 68.105.23.202. The combination of these three dates, during which Salzman and "Williams" were using the same IP address, was conclusive.
In addition, the Journal discovered that Salzman didn't employ much creativity in devising what appears to be his principal pseudonym.
Though the Williams letters were signed "R. Trent Williams," e-mails sent from "Williams'" e-mail address appeared in inboxes as coming from "Rick William." Salzman's full name is Richard William Salzman.
Reached Tuesday morning, Salzman declined to comment on the matter any further. He said that he would not provide a list of false names he has used.
In recent months, the Journal has received two letters from a person claiming to be a Eureka resident named "R. Johnson," one of which was published in July (the other, sent a month earlier, was published in the McKinleyville Press). Upon further examination, the letters have proven to be false.
Even though the "R. Johnson" letters were sent to the Journal electronically, they cannot be definitively tied to Salzman or any other person as they contain no IP address information. However, they both take stances similar to ones Salzman has taken in the past: One thanks former Assistant District Attorney Tim Stoen for his service to the county, the other excoriates the Humboldt Taxpayer's League and auto dealer Harvey Harper.
The "R. Johnson" letters give the address of a Eureka home that turns out to belong to 93-year-old Ruth Johnson. On Monday afternoon, the Journal reached Ruth Johnson's caregiver, who said that there was no way that she could have written the letters.
"She can't even sign her own name," the caregiver replied.
Meehan, who is the sister of Fortuna City Councilmember Debi August -- a vocal Gallegos opponent and former target of a lawsuit prosecuted by the DA's office -- said Tuesday that she sent her fax to local newspapers after the real Dick Wyatt, a Fortuna resident, apologized to August for the content of the Salzman letter that appeared under his name.
According to Meehan, Wyatt said that Salzman had asked to write a letter to the editor using his name. He later regretted that it had made reference to August's "mendacious behavior," Meehan said. (Wyatt could not be reached for this story. August declined to comment.)
Meehan said that she just took a guess about the "R. Trent Williams" letters.
"That one -- I don't know," she said. "Both letters just sounded so much alike that I threw that one in there." l
-- Staff writer Helen Sanderson contributed to this report.
-- -- --
The story of 'Jan Johnson'
Recent editions of the Humboldt Advocate, a small weekly newspaper published in Arcata, have dropped dark hints about a vast conspiracy among other newspapers. Many supposedly "independent" local newspapers, it is suggested, are in fact owned by a single, shadowy "neo-conservative" businessman who wishes to bend the public will to his ends.
The hints come both from the pen of Advocate editor/publisher Shawn Warford and from one "Luke Morris," an alleged resident of Eureka whose letter praising Warford's previous editorials on the subject appeared in the Aug. 10 issue.
There is no Luke Morris listed in the local phone book, nor is there any such person registered to vote in Humboldt County. When challenged on this point, Warford -- who used to work for the Arcata Eye and the North Coast Journal -- wrote that Morris' letter was delivered by hand to the Advocate offices, slipped under the door with no name or address given. Warford said that he decided to print the letter anyway, contrary to his own stated policy.
A mystery. But for Kevin Hoover, editor/publisher of the Eye, there was something familiar about both the "Luke Morris" letter and Warford's own frequent invocations of media corruption and conspiracy. It was all contained in a series of anonymous e-mails he and other members of the Eye staff began receiving last year -- e-mails that, over the course of a few months, turned from bizarrely amusing to deeply abusive and frightening.
Last fall, Hoover received a series of e-mails from someone who identified herself as "Jan Johnson," an Arcata woman. The first few letters "Johnson" sent to Hoover asked him to investigate Johnson's contention that the North Coast Journal is secretly owned by Rob Arkley, a Eureka financier and well-known donor to high-profile Republican causes. (Editor's note: It is not.)
After several such e-mails, and another suggesting a freelance writer that the Eye might consider hiring, Hoover asked "Jan Johnson" to provide a phone number in future letters. She declined.
The e-mails did not cease, but they started to develop a threatening edge. Eye staff members started receiving letters from "Jan Johnson" through their personal e-mail addresses. One such letter was sent to the Eye's advertising manager, Terrence McNally.
"You can run, but you can't hide," the letter said. "We have our sources at The Alibi. You're on our list for crimes against humanity. We intend to bring you to justice. December 9 will be just the beginning."
In the spring, the Eureka Reporter (which is owned by Rob Arkley) printed a letter from Jan Johnson that praised the Reporter and complained about the "awful Arcata Eye." (Upon learning that the letter was fake, Reporter editor Glenn Franco Simmons apologized for printing it.)
The letters abated for a time, but on March 12, Hoover received another "Jan Johnson" letter that caused him to take action.
It began fairly innocently, but it swiftly degenerated into loathing and veiled threats. The letter stated that the Eye, the North Coast Journal and the McKinleyville Press were all financed by Robin Arkley, Sr. (Rob Arkley's father).
It then referenced an incident from a few years back, when Hoover was suddenly (and apparently randomly) attacked and beaten by a group of men on New Year's Eve.
"Wouldn't it be interesting if those guys ran into you again?" the letter asked. "They know where you work and live and the car that you drive... Am I getting warmer? Yes, we are on to you."
Hoover notified the police, then got a computer-savvy friend to compare the IP address information in the "Jan Johnson" e-mails with other e-mails stored on his computer. The friend found a hit: At least some of the Johnson e-mails were sent from an IP address recently used by the Arcata Chamber of Commerce.
The e-mails that appeared to come from the Chamber's offices were sent on a Saturday. At the time, there was only one employee working at the office on a Saturday: Shawn Warford, who was a part-timer for the Chamber, in addition to running the Advocate.
Arcata Chamber of Commerce President Ray Geary said that while he could not discuss personnel matters in detail, he did say that Warford was told that "his services were no longer required" shortly after he spoke with Hoover and his staff spoke with the Arcata Police Department.
Geary offered advice to any local business that might find itself in similar circumstances.
"If situations like these are occurring, there needs to be in-depth follow-up and follow-through with those offended, in cooperation with appropriate authorities," he said.
Capt. Tom Chapman of the Arcata Police Department confirmed Tuesday that there had been an investigation of the matter. Though he said that "we're fairly certain we know who it is," the department could not gather enough definitive proof to bring a case against the suspect. (Chapman declined to identify the suspect by name.)
Hoover said Sunday that after Warford left the Chamber's employment, the Jan Johnson e-mails stopped. He said Sunday that he didn't wish to write about the matter for fear that it would rekindle the e-mailer's abuse.
"I was just glad the harassment of my staff and me was over with," he said.
Warford did not return phone and e-mail messages seeking comment for this story.
Sidebars:
Rhonda Meehan's letter
http://www.northcoastjournal.com/090105/cover0901.html#Rhonda
Letters from "R. Trent Williams" printed by the Journal
http://www.northcoastjournal.com/090105/cover0901.html#Letters
The story of 'Jan Johnson'
http://www.northcoastjournal.com/090105/cover0901.html#Johnson
Glossary of terms
An apology
http://www.northcoastjournal.com/090105/pub0901.html
Related story links:
will be updated
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