EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK:How a phony letter got into print

A letter to the editor published in the Oct. 6 Coastline Pilot has raised many questions — and caused us no little embarrassment here at the paper.

The letter, signed by “George Dodgson” is a fake, and worse.

On the surface, it was written to convey support for City Council candidates Verna Rollinger and Toni Iseman, both of whom are identified with Village Laguna.

The letter-writer claims that, if Iseman and Rollinger are elected, Village Laguna would control the city and stop “church expansion” — and this would be a good thing.

The tone of the letter and the anti-church sentiments expressed sent off alarm bells in the minds of many in the community. It appears to align the two candidates, and Village Laguna, squarely against the churches in town — a position that we doubt any serious candidate would want to take.

After the letter was published, we were contacted by Village Laguna supporters and also those in the opposite political camp.

Both camps expressed disbelief over the letter and dismay at what the letter conveyed.

Both camps were convinced the letter was a fake, and that it was intended to disparage, not support, Village Laguna and the candidates mentioned.

One person — not a Village Laguna proponent — called the letter “invidious,” and insisted it was a clever way to besmirch the candidates. (Dictionary.com defines “invidious” as “calculated to create ill will or resentment or give offense; hateful.”)

From what we have learned so far, it appears the letter is a fake, whatever its purpose or intent. It may be a political prank or, as some suspect, a clever plant.

It’s especially galling to many that this would happen during an election season in which all the candidates have pledged to “keep it clean” and not sling mud.

We are now being asked how we could publish such a letter, so here’s our answer.

The letter appeared genuine and seemed to comply with our basic requirements for a home address and a phone number. We ask for these items in case a question comes up regarding a letter and to verify the origin of a letter. Usually, that’s a simple process and one that hasn’t betrayed us until now.

We have a policy of not accepting letters that do not comply with these requirements, and in some cases have found it necessary to contact the letter-writer before the letter could be published, especially if it is someone we have not heard from before.

In most cases, we assume that the letters are sincere and genuine, especially if they are local and contain the personal information we request, and proceed from there.

In this case, we were wrong.

It is clear the letter was written by a person who did not want their identity known — someone other than “George Dodgson,” if such a person exists in Laguna, and there is no evidence of that.

For the record, this letter was typewritten, not faxed or e-mailed, and had a handwritten signature.

There is no George Dodgson in the local phone book — not unusual. The fact that the number, when dialed, emitted a fax tone did not raise immediate suspicions because many people leave their fax machines on accidentally.

After the questions were raised, however, we did some serious sleuthing to determine the veracity of the letter.

We discovered that the address on the letter is a vacant storefront in Laguna, not a home, and the phone number is the fax number of a local businessman who says he had no knowledge of the letter and was “shocked” to learn that his fax number had been used this way. (He asked that his name not be revealed and that is his right, as an innocent victim of fraud.)

We are dismayed and chagrined that such a letter made it into print on our pages.

We believe that the letter-writer intentionally sought to circumvent our — admittedly lax — verification policy to get it published.

That said, we would rather err on the side of trusting that our readers and letter-writers are aboveboard than operate under the assumption that skull-duggery is afoot.

But we’ve learned our lesson.

From now on, we will be contacting all letter-writers in advance of publication and ascertaining to the best of our ability that they are the authors.

Recently, the local library hosted a presentation by one of our favorite frequent correspondents called “Writing Letters to the Editor Can Be Fun.”

It may be that our “prankster” letter-writer was also having a bit of fun — but at the expense of many.