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Letter writer fools Bay papers with various noms de plume
By Sarah Krupp
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
SAN RAMON - Batswala Dala, France Amoore and Tom Shane all have published letters to the editor in Bay Area newspapers. Trouble is, none of the men exist. Under dozens of pseudonyms, Kyle Vallone has orchestrated the publication of scores of letters to the Times, San Francisco Chronicle and the Tri-Valley Herald during the last decade. A Times investigation found that the San Ramon man submitted more than 100 letters under fictitious identities to the three newspapers. Vallone estimated that he has had a hand in 200 bogus letters published in Northern California newspapers. Vallone said the idea occurred to him while he was working on a Republican campaign in 1994. He and other workers would write letters on behalf of a candidate and send them to a "tree" of supporters who would sign their names and send them to newspapers. It occurred to him that he could skip a step, make up fictitious identities and send the letters via e-mail. He used free e-mail accounts and various voice-mail systems, his cell phone and home phone numbers to pull off his hoax. "That probably wasn't the correct thing to do, but we were just having fun. It wasn't like something that we really took seriously," Vallone said. The newspapers' editors aren't laughing, though. "Bogus letters have a tremendous effect on the readers," Times Editorial Page editor Dan Hatfield said. "People need to be able to know that the letters to the editor are real people, writing about real issues. They need to be able to believe what they read in the newspaper. The discovery of false letters makes the reader wonder about the veracity of the opinions on our pages." While the letters may raise ethical questions, making up fake names for publication isn't illegal, according to Contra Costa Deputy District Attorney Jim Sepulveda. Vallone's letters preached conservative politics or ideologies on topics ranging from boosting missile defense to ousting Gov. Gray Davis. They often provoked readers to write response letters. As his reputation grew, Vallone said people began to send him letters they had written, but didn't want to be associated with. He said he also acted as a "ghost writer" for friends who weren't adept at writing , and submitted the letters under their names. In the last four to five years, Vallone said that other campaign workers wrote most of the letters. His helpers weren't aware, though, that he was sending them in with fictitious names, he said. "The early stuff was all mine and I would use big words, like parsimonious. Then as time went on, I just didn't have the time to write them," he explained. The Times, Chronicle and Herald have similar letter to the editor verification policies. A writer must provide his or her resident city and phone number. A newspaper employee then calls the writer to verify that they sent it in. Vallone would call back and pretend to be the letter writer. "I am very good (at accents). It was all just a creative thing. I just got to use my brain to create these folks. We would write these letters and I would use my computer skills to make it work," Vallone said. (He is most proud of coming up with the name Batswala Dala.) Hatfield said the paper has tightened its policy, but there is no way to screen writers intent on breaking the rules. "Unfortunately, there is not a fail-safe way that I have found. No matter how elaborate the system one designs, there is always some knucklehead out there who wants to ruin it for everyone by proving that he or she can beat it." Vallone's most recent campaign work was as a co-chair of the letters to the editor for Republican Bill Jones' 2004 senatorial bid. The Times found eight letters submitted by Vallone during the campaign, seven of which blasted Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer and one that praised Jones. Jones said he had no knowledge of Vallone's letter-writing deception. "We never heard anything about it. We had no knowledge that that was going on," said Brian Forrest, an assistant campaign coordinator for Jones' senatorial campaign. Vallone, a three-time state Republican party delegate, said he didn't consider the deception involved. "I thought of it in terms of getting the message out and also, all these campaigns do it. The unions do it. Everybody does it. They all do it. They have trees of people that they use," he said. "OK, does that make it right? I don't know," he said. Vallone has been a prolific writer under his own name as well. He admitted to plagiarizing portions of a letter published in the Chronicle in 2003 lauding Gov. Davis' recall. Vallone took much of his letter from the Wall Street Journal, according to the Chronicle. The Times began looking into the origins of the letters after an anonymous flier blasting the Antioch mayor was distributed a few days before the November election. Published letters to the editor matched the flier in content and tone. The identities and addresses given for the letters writers were false. One letter attributed to Richard Copenhaver of Antioch included Vallone's cell phone as the writer's contact number. There is no Richard Copenhaver living in or near Antioch. When a reporter called, Vallone put on a phony accent, pretending to be Copenhaver. In a second phone conversation, he told the reporter that he thought it was one of his friend's playing a practical joke on him, but he wouldn't reveal his real name. The Times then linked the cell phone number to Vallone. Vallone said that he submitted the letters on behalf of a friend who had written them. He refused to say who the friend is. But he said he has no connection to the flier and doesn't know who was involved with it. Antioch city leaders have asked the state Fair Political Practices Commission to investigate the flier, which they contend violated state election law by not disclosing its funding source. The FPPC will not comment on whether it is investigating the complaint. An August letter to the Times submitted by Vallone accused Boxer of playing partisan politics for attending a premiere of "Fahrenheit 911," a documentary critical of the Iraq war. It was signed Susanne Schlendorf of Danville. Susanna Schlendorf, a council woman and a Danville mayor in the early 1990s, believed that the letter was intended to impersonate her. The letter concluded that Boxer "is not fit to represent California for six more years." Boxer didn't attend the screening. Moreover, she is a friend of Schlendorf's. The Times wrote a clarification, stating that the former mayor didn't write the letter and that the facts in it were inaccurate. Vallone said he hasn't falsified any letters since the Times began investigating the story in November. Depending on how people react, however, he said he may return to his "hobby." "I don't know that I am going to retire. We'll see how this plays. If I get a lot of crap about it, I probably am going to retire. No one will want to work with me again." Reach Sarah Krupp at 925-779-7166 or skrupp@cctimes.com. Staff writer Brooke Bryant contributed to this story. Times letters Letter writers are required to provide their first and last names, phone numbers and city of residence. A Times employee calls the writer to ask if he or she authored the letter. Writers are limited to one letter on any topic and one response to a Saturday forum question every 30 days. |
