In politics, dirty tricks are almost as old as the profession itself, but tell that to a Redwood City Council candidate whose attorney believes he has a line on who's been signing her up for adult Websites, using her campaign's e-mail address.
Rosanne Foust's attorney Ted Hannig believes it's someone well enough known in the area, and that police either are or will be questioning the culprit shortly enough. He told the San Mateo County Times the culprit was likely identified by the "digital fingerprints" computers tend to leave behind.
Foust, the current chairwoman of the Redwood City Planning Commission, had said earlier in the week that she began getting e-mails in July from adult sites thanking her for joining, telling the paper it wasn't the usual run of spam but actual membership acknowledgements alluding to her campaign's e-mail address.
Hannig told the Times he thinks it might have to do with some of Foust's campaign positions, though he didn't specify which ones. But he did say that if people fear to run for office because of stunts like this it's a threat to democracy, the Times said.
"Rather than debate in the light of day," he said, "dark intimidation was attempted," he said.
