Friday, October 5, 2007

More on voucher spam

(Thisi s a re-post. On the kind advice of some readers, I am editing the address of the probable spammer.)

In yesterday's post I speculated that Mark Towner of "The Political Spyglass" blog might have been the person who sent the deceptive e-mail (SPAM) from Utahns for Public School (singular). The public education coalition opposing private school vouchers is Utahns for Public Schools (plural).

I noted that the spam e-mail redirected to a site that Towner was accused of using before to send unauthorized and unsolicited spam to thousands of Utahns. (Thanks to Jesse for documenting this spam.)

Seems to have stirred some folks, particularly Towner.

Despite his fairly incriminating history, Towner huffily protested his innocence in his blog:

“No email was sent by http://www.thespyglass.us/ The site is parked and has been inactive for weeks.” - The Political Spyglass here.

Eh? Inactive for WEEKS?!? Hmmm.

Well, here is a copy below wherein Utahns for Public School (singular) is linked to The Spyglass:

Index of /thespyglass
Name Last modified Size Description
________________________________________

Parent Directory 03-Oct-2007 18:44 -
prepare_removal.php 13-Sep-2007 00:38 2k
________________________________________
Apache/1.3.37 Server at www.utahnsforpublicschool.com Port 80

Note that the last modification of the parent directory happens to occur on the same day the Deseret News broke the "deceptive e-mail" story. Hmmm. Coincidence?

(Check it out here.)

Towner also takes offense that we didn't KNOW he was the poster at "vouchernews" blog (under the juvenile pseudonym "Jason Bourne"). HUH? I've been reading the Spyglass for quite some time now. I didn't know.

"...I indicated that I created the site some time ago to focus on the voucher battle, so the spyglass can continue posting about other events..." - The Political Spyglass 10/5/07.

So, this morning I went back as far as June and July. Never read ANY mention from Towner that he also was behind vouchernews blog! (Unless he backtracked and added that somewhere this morning).

Oh, wait. Now Towner posts on Utah Amicus that he is NOT "Jason Bourne" yet in his own blog Towner admits to running the vouchernews blog? Whew.

Following a hunch, I also went back to the Parents for Choice in Education PIC filing with the Lt. Governor's office, just to see who the group had paid for what services.

Well, well. Here's a link (pdf format) to the report.

Wonder what entity is "SG Consulting" at 1**1 G***n St. that received $5,000 from the PCE PIC on September 4? Hmmm.

SG Consulting - could that be Spy Glass? 1**1 G***n St.? Could that be Mark Towner's home address?

Was Mark Towner paid to spam?

2 comments:

Bob said...

I can confirm that Mark Towner does live at the address given for SG Consulting.

Nice pick up.

Anonymous said...

Well, a Google search confirms that 1331 Green is Mark Towner's address, all right (list of prior candidates of office, other references, etc.) Wow. We already knew that PCE had no clue how to advocate on the radio or TV. Now we know they have no idea even how to spam effectively. If I were a PCE donor, I'd be pretty annoyed at the waste of my $$.