SFO Anonyblogger Outed as Mayoral Flack

Here in Los Angeles most third floor cutting and pasting anonyblogger trolls who post on behalf of the Mayor in our forum are smart enough not to get caught. A spokes-hole for San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is not so smart. (Don't forget our story about Gavin's underage drinking teenaged girlfriend here.)

ABC7 (they call it the same thing up there in Bagdad by the Bay but there it's KGO not KABC) is reporting that Newsom's press secretary Peter Ragone "apparently has been using phony names to post comments on popular blogs," including KGO's own news blog.

Jon Shurkin is a blogger at Sfist.com (yup the same folks who do LAist here) checked Ragone's IP address and found several postings under different names. According to KGO "It appeared that Ragone was using aliases to make more aggressive comments. "

"It smacks of kind of Nixonian political trickery, and it's just not leaving a good taste really in anybody's mouth."
Aaron Peskin, Chairman, San Francisco Board of Supervisors

The whole affair has news media and political types throughout the People's Republic of San Francisco wagging their tongues. Even former Mayor and California Speaker Willie Brown had something to say. "It raises serious questions about (Peter Ragone's) credibility and effectiveness. ... As a journalist, how can you believe what he says?"

"It raises serious questions about (Peter Ragone's) credibility and effectiveness. ... As a journalist, how can you believe what he says?"
Willie Brown, former Mayor of San Francisco

Many of the comments come from someone by the name of "John Nelson." When posts by Nelson were tracked to Ragone's home computer, Ragone responded, "John Nelson is my best friend, and yes, he does stay at my house all the time. Our sons are best friends also. I think we have the same viewpoints on most things." However when KGO got a hold of all the John Nelsons they could find in the city, each of them denied knowing Ragone. Ragone will also not allow the media to contact Nelson directly.

Chairman of the San Francisco City/County Board of Supervisors Aaron Peskin told KGO that "It smacks of kind of Nixonian political trickery, and it's just not leaving a good taste really in anybody's mouth."