I've been asked by a number of daveberta.ca readers for an update on the edstelmach.ca fiasco that became public 23 days ago. So, by popular demand, here is an update on the continuing legal saga of edstelmach.ca and my accused misappropriation of Ed Stelmach's personality.
As I have previously written, Premier Ed Stelmach's Chief of Staff Ron Glen called me on the evening of January 9, 2008 asking if there might be a way to amenably resolve this issue. Understandably, I was a little surprised to get a phone call from the Premier's Chief of Staff, so I told Mr. Glen that I would return his call in a couple of days after I took some time to weigh my options. On January 11, 2008, I returned Mr. Glen's call and left a message on his voice mail (Mr. Glen was in Ottawa with Premier Stelmach at the First Ministers' Conference). My call was quickly returned by Mr. Glen's assistant who assured me that she would try to set up a phone meeting between myself and Mr. Glen to discuss a resolution to the edstelmach.ca domain name issue.
This began what can only be properly described as a game of "phone tag" which ensued over the next week. Mr. Glen had an uncanny ability to return my phone messages while I was in classes and had my cell phone turned off (I am a full-time student at the University of Alberta). Each time Mr. Glen left a message on my voicemail, I returned his call and left a message on his (I was surprised that no one seemed to pick up the phone in the Premier's Office). Then, roughly two weeks ago, Mr. Glen didn't return my call, which was bizarre considering that I had indicated that I was interested in resolving this situation.
As it's been almost two weeks since Mr. Glen or a representative of Ed Stelmach has attempted to contact me, I can only assume two things:
a) They have found Ed Stelmach's personality.I'm sure Albertans across the province would be happy if "a" were the answer, but I can't help but be concerned that they still haven't withdrawn the threat of a lawsuit against this blogger.
b) They are acting like nice guys because of next week's impending election call.
It seems as if the moment the media coverage began to die down on this issue, Ed Stelmach's representatives went silent on the issue, leaving me with the very real concern that Premier Stelmach and his crew are putting on their nice guy faces until after the election when they could follow up their threat and slap me with a lawsuit. Even with cyber-law experts from Michael Geist to David Hicks and Cameron Hutchison having pointed out the shaky legal ground that Premier Ed Stelmach is standing on, the Premier still hasn't withdrawn his legal threat towards me. And even after Edmonton-Riverview PC candidate Wendy Andrews assured me on the evening of January 23, 2008 that she was going to contact Mr. Glen to see if he was going to return my call, I still haven't heard back from Mr. Glen.
You can read the full daveberta.ca coverage of the continuing edstelmach.ca fiasco below:
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12 comments:
Dave:
Don't hold your breath waiting for a telephone call from Ron Glen. You may be aware that the PCPA, I assume, now has the domain for stelmach.ca. I would suggest that you use the edstelmach.ca site during the campaign to provide the real facts on the government.
Have you considered the possibility that they just don't care about you anymore?
You had your moment of media glory over this. They've gone and gotten a different domain name to use, odds are you'll just never hear from them again.
Would it be so unreasonable for them to assume it was you who was ducking the calls? How much time do you think a Premier's Chief of Staff should devote to chasing down pranksters? You pulled off a dirty stunt to make someone else look bad, but now it's you that's starting to look every part the sleaze.
Stop screwing around and return the domain. If you can't even coordinate a phone call (which is no surprise,Alberta Liberals are universally bad at coordinating anything) then write them a letter with some sort of proposal. I'm sure they would get back to you in due time.
Anon 4:59 pm. Why should Dave return the domain name? He paid for it, fair and square. If the people around the Premier couldn't figure this out in December 2006, then too bad for them. You snooze, you lose.
I agree with Anon 3:26 pm. Dave should use the site. That's politics. Nobody said politics was fair.
HI Dave, my educated guess is regarding edstelmach.ca, is that you have it - you own it - you deal with it. They are not likely to be calling you back. They have moved on.
It is pretty much known all over Alberta and beyond by now that you have a registered domain name describing Premier Stelmach - and so what. People will wait and see what you do with it...and pass judgement accordingly.
Selling it to Craig Chandler is an alternative. He has offered to buy it from you and you could sell it I suppose. But Mr. Chandler only wants it because he actually thinks the Premier would sue him if he were in control of the domain name.
I would not hold by breath that the Premier is going to do anything more about this, with you or with Mr. Chandler, should you decide to go that route and sell it to Mr. Chandler.
Stelmach's advisors by going immediately to lawyering this incident have done more than enough already, as I am sure you would agree.
So, you own it. It is yours. Continue to enjoy it and milk it as you wish. You can do what ever you want with it within the limits of the law. It is after all your personal property.
As for Premier Stelmach, my guess is he has moved on and is focusing his attention to more critical matters regarding the future of the province.
Yeah, Mr. Ed is just too busy bribing the votors with promises of education, health and housing on the eve of an election.
The Herald reported today that with all his spending announcements, Stelmach is spending around $940 of taxpayer money per second.
And yet they couldn't muster up $14 to buy a domain...
It's now $1.26 billion on the Ed spending meter and counting. You can bet there will be a flood of Eddie money spending announcements today as well. He is the Premier who can't stop spending. But he is spending my money and he doesn't have a mandate to do so!!!!
Let me get this straight.
1) Ed Stelmach threatens to sue you.
2) The media finds out, Stelmach looks dumb.
3) You offer to settle.
4) They don't call you back.
What kind of idiots are running this government? You GAVE THEM AN OUT and they stood you up?
Sounds like they didn't have a plan...
I love reading the threatening emails from the anonymous PC fascists out there.
And I notice that none of Ed Stupid's clowns ever condemn or apologize for them or distance themselves from them.
Look forward to delivering a metaphorical kick in the ass to this clown when he calls the election next week.
Also, I am very proud of the way you are handling yourself and I love your site even though I am a Wildrose supporter!
Epsi
Dave - here's a suggestion. Please issue a media release updating local papers, etc. as to the current status of the "lawsuit" and force Ed to either drop it, or have his office call you. It's ridiculous for him to leave it hanging - you can bet that when he loses the election he's gonna pull a Chandler and point his lawyer's fingers at you in his copious spare time. Don't let him get away with it.
I notice that not all politicians react this way. Jason Kenney has his own site, but JasonKenney.org has been forwarded all over teh place. Currently it's forwarded to Michael Chong's site but used to be forwarded to a site promoting gay marriage.
perhaps give the edstelmach.ca domain name to the yes men. The guys who hijacked the National petroleum conference in Calgary last june. They do lots of great stuff, although the Harry Strom idea was great.
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