Krypronite 2: a new twist to the Lance Dutson story

Back when Robert and I were writing Naked Conversations, we wrote about the Kryptonite lock mess. It seems you could pick a Kryptonite lock with a 19 cent BIC pen and bloggers had something to do with making this information public. The 23 employees at Kryptonite stayed steadfastly mute on the topic--until we posted about it some nine months later. Then Donna Tocci, Kryptonite's PR person spoke out with passion and credibility about the company's side to the story, one which made many of us rethink our perceptions of the blogosphere's role, and one that changed what we wrote about Kryptonite in our book. 

Had bloggers been vigilant or vigilantes?   The question remains unanswered and still debated. Forbes magazine called us a lynch mob. Many of us consider blogs a way that the people can speak up. But is that what happens when a blogger takes on people who are clueless on blogs and what to do about them.

Now comes the story of blogger Lance Dutson who took on the Maine board of tourism and it's advertising and PR firms.  He was tireless in charging wrongdoing, nepotism, arrogance and lack of response.  he was threatened by a lawsuit, he reported on how his wife was intimidated on her job. He kept blogging atnd the other side kept silent, until this morning.
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For more details, including the who's who of it all, check out Jim Turner, an extremely thoughtful blogger, who points out much of the history along with how bad organizations opposed to Lance looked to those of us who investigated.

This week end, while I was blogging ardently about the need for greater blogger ethics, I learned from Lance that Dann Lewis, the director of the board of tourism had been fired.  According to Lance this was because of Lewis' attempts to intimidate him through litigation.

Now, just like the Kryptonite saga, nine months after it began, the other side has now decided to speak out in the form of Sherry Lewis, who charges Lance Dutson "is a liar" who got away with it because he caught the other side by surprise, and like the Kryptonite folk, this other side was clueless about how to deal with the blogosphere.

In a lengthy comment on my earlier post, she wrote this morning :"...the dozen or so individuals involved had no idea what had hit them. The attacks were becoming relentless and very personal. After the meeting with Cone, Dann made it clear that engagement was the only way to go.

'Talk WITH us.'

Dutson could not handle such an approach."

In short, Sherry Lewis contends, Dann did not want to sue Dutson and had nothing to do with it. She further charges that Dann wanted to engage Dutson in conversation, and when the met, it was Lance who was accompanied by a lawyer and it was Lance who got up and inexplicably got up and left the room after about five minutes. (BTW, the "talk WITH us," line is an apparent reference to Naked Conversations book's promotional material.)

So who should I believe?  I haven't a clue.  In this case, I've tried to just be a reporter.  I've been speaking with Sheri by email for the past couple of days and she seems pretty creditable. It took her two tries to successfully post her email, which implies she may be new to this communications form. She was forthcoming in revealing she is Dann's spouse.I think I would enjoy meeting her.

The trouble is, I found Lance to be creditable as well. I was diappointed not to meet him when I canceled a trip to Maine last October.

I imagine that the absolute truth lies somewhere in between the two versions. I lon ago learned that even those who were in the room have sincere differences of opinion what transpired.

Bloggers are also less experienced than traditional journalists in managing the  hearsay of "he said/she said" reporting.

My lesson in all this is that in the future I will be more conservative in covering disputes that do not directly concern me. I will remember that most people in the world still don't get blogging, how it works and the power it holds.

We bloggers have become a powerful lot. But we are inexperienced with that power and we need to learn that with it comes increased responsibility.

Comments

[Tris Hussey]

It is interesting how Sheri is reaching out to bloggers now. She left a comment on Jim's post too.

I'm at a loss as well. There are always two sides (at least) to a story. I suspect that with Dann's recent firing, Sheri might be trying to clear his name.

I think the bottom line is that these things never have as easy and simple explaination as we'd all like. The world is not black and white, but shades of grey.

[Jim Turner]

Thanks for the link Shel, and I too have had some conversations with Sherry, which also leads me to believe that she does understand a little of this blogging phenomena and has followed along I'm sure with Lance's posting, your post and my subsequent post. I too had some interesting thoughts after her emails to me and I will be sharing that with readers as well. I think that this is a great example, as well as Donna Tocci's example, of what happens when the blogosphere dust settles.

I want those advertising agents and PR agents to jump into the pool with the rest of us because the water is fine. The only way they may have changed the outcome of this sad situation was to know how to swim in the first place.

Here is a group of people advising client's to stay the course and ignore the bloggers, and the only one that really seems to have learned a lesson is Dann and his wife. Albeit a really tough lesson.

[Katie Paine]

Thanks for this Shel. I blogged about this at the time, and did my share of blasting, in part because I believe in using local talent, and would naturally come out on Lance's side. I appreciate the perspective.

[Ted Shelton]

The great thing about this medium, as opposed to the press, is that we can keep following up and getting more and more of the details from more and more sources -- the truth will out as long as we care enough to find it.

[Sherry Lewis]

"The truth will out as long as we care to find it". I hope so.

I am reaching out.

Dann and I have spent most of the day trying to figure out how we can survive with no income. Last May, I was dropped by an Executive Search Firm in Boston because I Googled very badly. As I said to Shel (writer, consultant, nice guy), anyone who might care to slog through about 2,000 printable pages of Maine Web Report would see that Dutson's accusations are grounded in NOTHING. There is simply no truth to be found in his blog. Any emails he got from "Freedom of Access Act (FOAA)" were either highly personal or taken completely out of context (and time-line, which clearly skews any story). If anyone were to actually read Maine Web Report, which would take an eternity, they would see that the headlines are never corroborated by fact, but rather link only to more of Dutson's own fabrications, and even to buried documents which actually contradict his accusations. His logic seems to be that the more tangled his blog, the harder it might be to unravel. The entire site is totally insane and if any of us had the time, I could prove it, word by word.

But he does have a gift for using Webster's New World Thesaurus which gives him a measure of contrived credibility.

The other thing that relates to Shel's correct assertion that we were clueless about how to deal with the blogosphere is this: Once the blogosphere got all over this epic David and Goliath story (Dann DID try to kill the lawsuit), all involved at the state or contractor level had been told as state policy, not to repond to Lance Dutson in any way. But prior to that mandate, everyone had reached out to him to engage him in meaningful dialogue, and I have the paper trail that validates each and every gesture.

And, this alone speaks volumes about Lance Dutson: The meeting that was arranged for him included the Maine Office of Tourism, web designers experienced in search engine optimization and Internet advertising, representatives from Maine's tourism industry, state legislators and members of various media outlets...and Lance walked out. Walked out with his lawyer.

But! The meeting went on without him and 3 hours of audio tapes of that meeting were made and sent to him and (drum roll) not another peep about the "gross mismanagement" of Internet Pay-per-Click policies were ever again raised in his blog. Why? Because he had been outed. Immediately following the introductions, he knew he was with people who could disprove the foundation for Maine Web Report.

How much of this do you guys really want to hear? Since I was the only private citizen caught up in this mess, I was not confined to silence. I started my own blog...too little too late. I wish I had known you folks this time last year. I wish I had read Shel's book back then too.

Thanks - Sherry

[Linda Hutchins]

Please see the first chapter of a work in progress: (as yet very unorganized)

http://truthaboutlewis.blogspot.com/

There are 2 emails from Robert Cox which prove the claims that Cox had only "Skimmed" Dutson's blog since May of 2006 - before having appointed Lance Dutson as a Libby blogger.

Thanks