Stephen Smith, the publisher of the Irvine Tattler, is fast becoming the master of minutiae. Point and case, Irvine Mayor Beth Krom made a statement about hearing from Irvine residents who received a website via email. Smith reported that you can’t email a website, only mail a link to it. But frankly, any moron who’s used the Internet knows that and understood what Krom was saying anyway. But it’s part of his campaign to undermine the council majority or death by a million bug bites.
While Smith claims independence of any candidate or campaign, it’s clear he’s Council member Christina Shea’s hatchet man. And on his chopping block is Irvine lawyer Todd Gallinger, who had the nerve to criticize Shea for asking for all the email addresses the city has acquired so she could put out a newsletter. Of course, criticism of Shea is always a “personal attack†against her and folks with skin this thin shouldn’t be in office; Gallinger had a target painted on his back.
Smith again smears Gallinger on the Irvine Tattler website for the lawyer’s ties to “radical Muslim groups,†while Smith’s own links that “prove” make a weak case for the group being radical Islamists.
In a new story on the Tattler web site, Smith has crossed a line by doing a personal records search on Gallinger to attempt to portray Gallinger as someone who does libe in Irvine. He takes it a step further insistenting there’s no record of Gallinger ever having lived in Irvine. Smith did a search on the persona records aggregator Intelius (www.intelius.com) and posted a screen grab of the site on the Tattler. Not only does Smith expose Todd Gallinger’s records for all to see, he also posted the information of another man named Todd Gallinger who lives in Colorado.ÂÂ
According to sources at Intelius, the screen shot Smith posted was not from a purchased report. By republishing of the search results page on his own website, Smith violated the services provider’s terms of use. That provision reads:
Information shall not be provided or resold to any other person or entity without our prior written consent. (permission to republish this line granted by Intelius).ÂÂ
The Liberal OC contacted Gallinger. He gave us the address for his home in Irvine. He told us he attended IVC, Woodbridge H.S., Lakeside Middle School, Culverdale and East Shore Elementary Schools. A simple phone call would clear it up, but Smith went electronic and he went electronic in the cheap. And since Smith continues to link Gallinger to radical Islamic groups, I’m not giving the address. But it is in Irvine,”
Smith continues to insist that a Jauary 11, 2006 Orange County Registe article used in a Pro-Measure H flyer was somehow altered by Gallinger. The subhead in the flier reads, “One provision of a proposed ordiance could be trouble for Councilwoman Christina Shea, who is a lobbyist.” Smith insists the subhead is a graphically altered version of a January 11, 2006 Register article titled, “Irvine Debates Rules on Lobbying and Ethics.â€Â However, the online archieved version of the story uses a different subhead that reads, “Calm debate marked by Shea’s and Choi’s dissent.â€Â While Smith correctly notes the subjead of the online verson of the archieved Register story, he failed to report that the deadwood edition of the Register had the exact headline Gallinger used in the flier. That goodness for Microfiche (we’ll post the PDF shortly). So in trying to paint Gallinger a LIAR, Smith has exposed himself as a Liar through the omission of details.
Have you no decency Sir? Have you no decency Stephen Smith? Smearing a private individual for exposing public records that makes your candidate look bad is just reprehensible. Smith should apologize to Gallinger and retract the information on his residency. And Shea, who claims Smith’s stories are always accurate, would be wrong. She needs to distance herself from this publication and this individual.ÂÂ
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Well then this means that the OC register is wrong in calling her a lobbyist, its not like papers are impervious to error, and the author was probably looking for a catchy title. Anyways I don’t see how this makes Beth Krom and Company any more the better. Its just a matter of how good can we diss the other guy. (Note: I like how the word smear has such horrible connotations as to sway undecideds.) I mean lately Beth Krom has had nothing good to say at all in the council meetings and it was Larry Agran who started the whole stupid email thing. Clearly the winner here is the one who can end it and move on.
BTW This article among others that you have written have caused me to doubt mr smith’s objectivity.
I searched google and whitepages.com and Todd Gallinger does not live in irvine. Only his law offices are in Irvine but his home is in the lake forest/mission viejo area. I got his phone number from the American Friends Of Al Quds University (suspected terrorist connection) tax data and it is a Mission Viejo number. I find it hard to believe that a 28 year old lawyer not even a decade out of law school lives in Irvine. Especially with a building in park place. i don’t even want to think about how much the rent is there. Sorry for stalking you todd, but your a liar.
intergalacticman
TheLiberalOC.com has confirmed that Mr. Galliger currently lives in Irvine. Your information is incorrect.
I think the short answer is “NO!”
The email thing isn’t stupid; read the privacy policy on the city’s web site. And since the only other person who seems to give a rat’s ass about Gallinger’s residence is Smith combined with parroting Smith’s talking points, I’d say I have a pretty good idea who Intergalatic Man is…
The Register’s subheadline was not written bythe reporters but likely their copydesk using the story as a guideline; neither the facts of the story nor the subjead was retracted in any way. Smith’s constant referral to the online archieve headline of the story (while true) does not hold up with his claim that Gallinger “altered” the headline for the Pro-Measure H mailer. So now the paper got it wrong? Nope. The reprinted headline and subhead is fair game. Smith isn’t counting of folks actually going to the library to use Microfice to find the truth (at 20 cents a copy I might add).
I’m not giving out Todd’s address, but let’s say that if I called him right now, we could both meet at the Starbucks in the new Woodbury Shopping Plaza in about five minutes. He lives in a very nice neighborhood.
IGM — on Red County, I threw open a question, could anyone name any accomplishments from Shea and Choi. The response back was the Skate Park and the Dog Park in Irvine were both Shea initiatives (and they were both done when she was mayor more than 8 years ago). Shea has been back in office since 2002/Choi since 2004 — neither has a record of accomplishment the warrants keeping them in their seats.
Watch the video of Tuesday’s council meeting and jump to the section on emails and I challenge you to listen to what Choi talks about; he rambles in incoherent busts of thought and no two ideas connected to each other. And neiter Shea nor Choi have an appreciation or respect for Roberts Rules of Order nor the person wielding the Gavel.
The tattler and Steven Smith, aka intergalactic man, are so ridiculous that they do not even merit a response.
However, I must speak up in the interest of the American Friends of Al Quds University (AFAU), which has been falsely accused of links to terrorism in this thread. AFAU support the secular, non-partisan Al Quds University related in Jerusalem.
Neither the University or AFAU have ever previously been accused of links to terrorism. The University is supported strongly by the international community, including the UN and the US State Department, but it still has problems gaining enough funds to operate.
AFAU is by its bylaws a secular, non-partisan organization which is devoted to supporting education in Palestine, particularly at the Al Quds University. The group was recently granted approval by the IRS for 501c3 status.
This is just another example of a baseless attack made by a bigoted and vile man.