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In the Aquia District, candidates Paul Milde and Paul Ortiz are battling not just for the seat, but over campaign signs and Internet domain names. |
BY JONAS BEALS
No local government race would be complete without the standard accusations of sign-stealing, sign-switching and straight-up sign removal. The Aquia District supervisor contest has all that and more.
Paul Milde and Paul Ortiz have taken those shenanigans from the roadside to the information superhighway.
Ortiz recently purchased two Internet domain names--veterans formilde.com and veteransfor milde.org. Both link to the same page as paulortiz.org, the official site for Ortiz's campaign. Milde is not amused.
This sort of domain poaching has happened before. One incident involved Del. Albert Pollard 2007. When he tried to purchase the domain albertpollard.com, it was already taken. Anyone who entered that name was redirected to the Stafford County Republican Party's site.
There are some important differences this time around. With the benefit of that and other examples, any person even thinking of running for office knows that securing a domain name is a priority. Let your own name fall into the hands of someone else, and potential voters could be directed to your opponent's site. This is something Milde and Ortiz are both aware of.
Second, Ortiz did not swipe paulmilde.com, Milde's official campaign site. Nor did Ortiz buy paulmilde.org or paulmilde.net, both of which are available. He bought the veteransformilde domains, which Milde said he had no intention of ever buying or using.
This bout of virtual sign stealing was inspired by a set of actual signs at the entrance to Aquia Harbour.
Ortiz, a retired Marine Corps colonel, has been busy courting the veteran vote. To that end, he has a number of red, white and blue signs that read "Veterans for Paul Ortiz." Those signs have a Web address--vets4ortiz.com.
Milde, whose standard campaign signs are green and white, posted his own red, white and blue "Veterans for Milde" signs right next to Ortiz's at the corner of U.S. 1 and Washington Drive. Milde's sign has no Web address on it.
"He's intentionally trying to confuse the public by using the same colors and the same words," Ortiz said before pointing out that Milde has no military experience.
"I know thousands of veterans who support me," Milde said. "He doesn't have the rights to the votes of all veterans."
When asked why he would purchase domain names that haven't been made public and likely never will, Ortiz said "probably because everyone else does it. If you don't, your opponent possesses all those Internet addresses. It's an effort to ensure that if you want to talk about veterans in this county, vets4ortiz is the way to go."
Milde responded to the same question by saying: "I think it's underhanded. He's trying to trick people into coming to his Web site. It's just childish and disappointing."
Each man feels that his opponent's actions show a lack of integrity.
Irene Egan, the other candidate in the race, has managed to avoid the fracas. Her Web site is ireneegan .net.
Jonas Beals: 540/368-5036
Email: jbeals@freelancestar.com
