I write for F&S because I need an outlet for my more outlandish and less-serious thoughts — and I was terribly flattered that Aynnie invited me to write here. I have my own blog to which I affix my given name to keep my name in the public sphere — even if no one regularly reads it — and to keep my writing sharp (-ish). I don’t fear legal retribution for anything I write here not because I am anonymous, but because I think most rational people can see the absurdity of the government and individual actions I write about. I’m sure I piss some people off, but such is the beauty of the medium.

That said, perhaps I should be more concerned:

It’s a mystery that has gripped Whitewater city government since July: Who is John Adams, the anonymous blogger at www.freewhitewater.com?

…

He is critical of the School District and other local officials, calling a former municipal judge who was convicted of lewd behavior last year a “vulgar laughingstock.”

But much of his criticism is reserved for Whitewater’s police chief, James Coan, whom the closeted critic accuses of misusing his position.

Case in point: Coan’s use of city employees to try to unmask Adams — exposed in a series of posts on his blog earlier this month — that is part Keystone Cops and part challenge to Adams’ constitutional rights.

According to Whitewater Police Department e-mails obtained by Adams under the state’s open records law, Coan involved at least two detectives, the city’s director of public works, its information technology officer and the city clerk — all working on city time and using taxpayer-funded resources — to find the identity of a man described as a “suspect” but who had not committed a crime.

Granted, working inside the Beltway provides me certain protections because it is a major city — albeit a rather shitty one — that thrives on criticism of government and its policies. So many of us here would be entirely out of work if the government stuck to its functions and only did what it was meant to do.

Nevertheless, it troubles me that what I do, namely what you’re reading, is being targeted by law enforcement in our country without even the common decency to pass a law outlawing anony-blogging. But really?:

In Whitewater, the effort to discover Adams’ identity included examining his e-mails and Web site registration, running a license plate check on a man suspected of being Adams (he wasn’t), and suggesting city officials conduct surveillance at the dedication of a restored historic landmark on the chance he might be there.

“I think it is someone we want to keep an eye on…,” Whitewater Police Detective Tina Winger wrote in an e-mail to Coan. “Seems like an anti-government radical to me.”

The investigation culminated in a Jan. 4 visit from Coan and Whitewater Police Lt. Tim Gray to the home of Scott, whom Coan said afterward he was “99.9 percent convinced” was the blogger.

In fact, said Adams, who revealed his identity to the Wisconsin State Journal on condition of anonymity, the chief was “100 percent wrong.”

Whitewater City Manager Kevin Brunner said he sees nothing wrong with city employees’ attempts to expose Adams. He said the efforts took very little time and were aimed at seeking a dialogue with the blogger to address his complaints about the city.

“I think it was a very legitimate use of their time,” Brunner said. “I think the impetus was to try to engage in some civil discourse with that person.

Regular readers know that I’m not one to be generous with the benefit of the doubt for public — and especially police — officials. But I don’t know what backwatered moron could possibly buy the “efforts took very little time and were aimed at seeking a dialogue with the blogger to address his complaints about the city” bullshit.

Honestly, when is the last time you called a man with a gun something to the effect of “bumbling fucktard” and expected his reaction — with his similarly armed friends with surveillance capabilities — to include “seeking a dialogue”?

More power to “John Adams” and his libertarian crusade in Wisconsin.

Much love to Fark.

Filed under: Behind Every Law..., Profiles in Governance, Daily Rant