PIONEER PRESS CONFIRMS CLAIMS MADE BY MDE

As I reported, Buck Humphrey did approach Rowley's campaign. "Joe Elcock, Rowley's campaign manager, said: 'Buck Humphrey in June of 2005 submitted a proposal to do fundraising for Coleen's campaign, and that was not accepted. … We have no idea what connection Buck Humphrey had to Blois, and, to be honest, we don't care.'" Source: Pioneer Press, January 5, 2006 ## GOP blogger served with libel lawsuit Outcome may help shape online legal standards A dispute between a self-described "Republican operative" and a former Democratic campaign organizer widely quoted in Minnesota media has turned into a libel lawsuit that could help set legal standards for Internet blogs. The suit pits Blois Olson, a Democratic public relations executive who is a frequent guest on Twin Cities Public Television's "Almanac" show, against Michael Brodkorb, a former Minnesota Republican Party employee who operates a political blog — or Web journal — called minnesotademocratsexposed.com. Olson's lawsuit, which was served to Brodkorb on Tuesday but has not yet been filed in court, seeks damages of more than $50,000 and a court order forcing Brodkorb to remove from the blog a Dec. 28 posting about Olson and his St. Paul-based public relations company. In the Dec. 28 item, Brodkorb suggested that Olson had publicly criticized former FBI agent Coleen Rowley's campaign for Congress because Rowley's campaign staff last summer refused to hire Olson's firm, New School Communications. Olson insists the item was a fabrication; Brodkorb says he's confident it was true. "Here's an anonymous blogger that wasn't willing to retract something that could damage my reputation and my business — and that's false," Olson said Wednesday. Brodkorb said, "It's as simple as a Democratic operative trying to silence a Republican operative's blog. He's going to proceed with this through the courts, and I will, too." Jane Kirtley, a lawyer and journalism professor at the University of Minnesota, predicted that the lawsuit — if it goes to trial and eventually is appealed — could help determine whether courts will hold blogs to the same standards that newspapers and broadcasters face. "The central question here is whether a court is going to treat a blog as being the equivalent of a news organization," Kirtley said. She said a few appellate cases across the United States suggest that courts so far have accepted looser standards for blogs because of a conclusion that readers of blogs are skeptical and do not expect such sources to be completely factual. "As a general rule, courts cut blogs a lot of slack," Kirtley said. Brodkorb has operated the blog since July 2004. About 500 political junkies read it each day, he said. Brodkorb was widely suspected of running the blog, but he officially maintained anonymity until Wednesday, the day after Olson served him with the defamation suit. In the Dec. 28 blog posting, Brodkorb wrote that Hubert H. "Buck" Humphrey IV, the grandson of the late vice president and an employee of New School Communications, solicited business from Rowley's congressional campaign for the public relations firm and that Olson subsequently criticized the campaign as inept. Olson, who was not asked by Brodkorb to comment on the item until after it was posted on the blog, quickly branded the posting false and demanded a retraction. Brodkorb refused. In an interview, Olson said New School Communications employees sometimes advise candidates but do not accept campaigns as paying clients. He said that he had "no idea" whether Humphrey sought paid work with the Rowley campaign but that Humphrey was not acting on behalf of the firm if he did. Humphrey, whom Olson said was on vacation, did not respond to a message left on his cell phone seeking comment. Joe Elcock, Rowley's campaign manager, said: "Buck Humphrey in June of 2005 submitted a proposal to do fundraising for Coleen's campaign, and that was not accepted. … We have no idea what connection Buck Humphrey had to Blois, and, to be honest, we don't care." Source: Pioneer Press, January 5, 2006