Last month, we told you about subpoenas and a frivolous campaign finance complaint directed against myself and Taylor Dahlin. All originated with Becka Thompson in response to an anonymous website making fun of her campaign for Minneapolis City Council in Ward 12.
Last week, the subpoenas were withdrawn because the domain registrar complied with a subpoena. They provided information revealing the owner of the website was not me or Taylor.
Today, the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board determined there was not probable cause to believe any of the alleged violations occurred.
The truth is nobody who writes in an email to voters that they are too white to be popular was ever going to win in Ward 12. Nobody is responsible for Becka Thompson’s failure as a candidate besides Becka Thompson.
I want to thank our lawyer. I have enjoyed getting to know and spending time with Dan Suitor. He has been so supportive through what might otherwise have been a stressful experience. He put his own unpaid time into this and kept us protected.
That’s not to say our relationship has been smooth sailing. When Lawyer Dan told me I’d have to wear “job interview clothes” it felt bad. Why was this man I barely know treating me like a child who doesn’t know how to dress for adult things? Then I realized he was right, I am a child.
In the end, I was forced to purchase $27 Amazon-brand black dress pants for my appearance in campaign finance court. I wish I’d had Dan ask the court to award me the cost of those pants.
Before today, I was never interested in the anonymous website making fun of Thompson. I never once shared a link. And I’m not going to start now. I’m telling anyone who will listen: Please do not visit voteforbecka dot com. I’m spelling it out so you can’t click. It might be fun to visit and share this website, but it’s wrong. If you see your friends enjoying and sharing voteforbecka dot com, tell them to stop. Even if it feels good. And remember, there is no Ward 14. It’s misleading to say otherwise.
On a serious note: I want to say a little about how this fits into a longstanding pattern of harassment, in case we need to refer back to this moment when it happens again. After reading the written complaints against us and learning that Carol Becker would be representing Thompson in front of the Campaign Finance Board, it was obvious to me that Becker was using this to further her grievance against Wedge LIVE.
In 2018 (back when she was an elected official), Becker filed for ownership of the trademark to “Wedge LIVE.” This is a brand I have been using and winning some acclaim for since 2014. I had already established clear legal ownership. Becker thought she could abuse the trademark process to damage me. I sued. In a settlement she conceded my ownership of the name.
Seven years later, she’s back at it. I suspect she’s at least the primary author of Thompson’s campaign finance complaints because she recycled some of the same bogus accusations she used back then: he’s funded by corporations; he’s a lobbyist! (If the corporations really want in on this, visit patreon.com/wedgelive.)
Becker herself is listed as the editor of a local “news” site (which I will not name) that publishes plenty of opinion, and has a history of collaborating with two PACs who’ve spent millions supporting Mayor Jacob Frey (sharing an email list with “All of Mpls;” collaborating on publishing a candidate questionnaire with “We Love Minneapolis”). It never occurred to me that anyone should file complaints because I disagree with her political angle.
Something dangerous happens in Carol Becker’s brain that tells her anyone who disagrees with her is paid off, a criminal, and that she’s justified to abuse any legal process to destroy them. If she wasn’t such a belligerent clown about it, oblivious to how the world sees her, she might really do some damage.