I’ve been asked by a number of daveberta.ca readers for an update on the edstelmach.ca fiasco that became public 23 days ago. So, by popular demand, here is an update on the continuing legal saga of edstelmach.ca and my accused misappropriation of Ed Stelmach‘s personality.
As I have previously written, Premier Ed Stelmach‘s Chief of Staff Ron Glen called me on the evening of January 9, 2008 asking if there might be a way to amenably resolve this issue. Understandably, I was a little surprised to get a phone call from the Premier’s Chief of Staff, so I told Mr. Glen that I would return his call in a couple of days after I took some time to weigh my options. On January 11, 2008, I returned Mr. Glen’s call and left a message on his voice mail (Mr. Glen was in Ottawa with Premier Stelmach at the First Ministers’ Conference). My call was quickly returned by Mr. Glen’s assistant who assured me that she would try to set up a phone meeting between myself and Mr. Glen to discuss a resolution to the edstelmach.ca domain name issue.
This began what can only be properly described as a game of “phone tag” which ensued over the next week. Mr. Glen had an uncanny ability to return my phone messages while I was in classes and had my cell phone turned off (I am a full-time student at the University of Alberta). Each time Mr. Glen left a message on my voicemail, I returned his call and left a message on his (I was surprised that no one seemed to pick up the phone in the Premier’s Office). Then, roughly two weeks ago, Mr. Glen didn’t return my call, which was bizarre considering that I had indicated that I was interested in resolving this situation.
As it’s been almost two weeks since Mr. Glen or a representative of Ed Stelmach has attempted to contact me, I can only assume two things:
a) They have found Ed Stelmach‘s personality.
b) They are acting like nice guys because of next week’s impending election call.
I’m sure Albertans across the province would be happy if “a” were the answer, but I can’t help but be concerned that they still haven’t withdrawn the threat of a lawsuit against this blogger.
It seems as if the moment the media coverage began to die down on this issue, Ed Stelmach‘s representatives went silent on the issue, leaving me with the very real concern that Premier Stelmach and his crew are putting on their nice guy faces until after the election when they could follow up their threat and slap me with a lawsuit. Even with cyber-law experts from Michael Geist to David Hicks and Cameron Hutchison having pointed out the shaky legal ground that Premier Ed Stelmach is standing on, the Premier still hasn’t withdrawn his legal threat towards me. And even after Edmonton-Riverview PC candidate Wendy Andrews assured me on the evening of January 23, 2008 that she was going to contact Mr. Glen to see if he was going to return my call, I still haven’t heard back from Mr. Glen.
You can read the full daveberta.ca coverage of the continuing edstelmach.ca fiasco below:
