Kirby Delauter, a councilman in Frederick County, Maryland, said he was “wrong and inappropriate” for threatening to sue a local newspaper for using his name without consent.
Mr. Delauter, a Republican, became the subject of ridicule this week after he wrote in a Facebook post that he planned to sue The Frederick News-Post if his name or any reference to him appeared in print without his permission. He was apparently upset at the paper’s use of his name in a Jan. 3 article about his and Councilman Billy Shreve’s concerns over lack of reserved parking spaces for council members.
“Use my name again and you’ll be paying for an Attorney [sic],” he told the writer of the article Saturday.
News-Post editors said they “spent quite some time laughing about” the demand before publishing a cheeky op-ed Tuesday that mentioned the councilman by name nearly 30 times. The hashtag #KirbyDelauter even made trending status on Twitter that afternoon.
Mr. Delauter walked back his comments in a press release Wednesday, saying he’s “not afraid to admit” when he’s wrong.
“I thought I had long ago learned the lesson of waiting 24 hours before I hit the send key, but apparently I didn’t learn that lesson as well as I should have,” he explained in a release titled “Frederick County Supports Transparent Government.”
“Of course, as I am an elected official, the Frederick News-Post has the right to use my name in any article related to the running of the county — that comes with the job. So yes, my statement to the Frederick News-Post regarding the use of my name was wrong and inappropriate. I’m not afraid to admit when I’m wrong,” he concluded.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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