The primary race between Republicans Bill Cloud and incumbent Sheriff Larry Dever got nastier this week due to an entry posted Monday on a blog affiliated with Cloud's website, www.billcloudsheriff2008.com. 

The posting's author, listed simply as C.C., claimed to work "in the main office" of the Cochise County Sheriff's Office. The entry contained several derogatory comments about Dever and supporters within the Sheriff's Office, whom the author called "boot lickers,"' "incompetent," and "childish men." 

Except for the initials C.C. there was no indication if the alleged employee was a man or woman, nor what position the person held other than being a civilian employee.

Despite the attempt at anonymity, several people at the Sheriff's Office and local law enforcement agencies who read the posting assumed they knew who wrote the scathing comments.

Not just because of the initials used, but because of an email address provided by the author when the posting was input. The email address belongs to a well-known, longtime Sheriff's Office employee.

 When contacted by phone after the issue was mentioned at Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting, the employee categorically denied posting the scandulous comments. 

The employee, who called the use of their personal email to create a false posting a 'shameful and dishearenting' act, is stunned to have been unvoluntarily pulled into a smear campaign, and expressed 'sadness that doubts have now been raised' about the employee's professionalism and loyalty. 

The email address and employee's name are not being disclosed to prevent further damage to the employee's reputation while the matter is being investigated. 

The posting was one of several on the blog about a recent decision by the Arizona State Fraternal Order of Police to endorse Dever. The comments by C.C. purported to describe actions taken by Dever and others at the Sheriff's Office to obtain that endorsement (which the FOP's endorsement committee wanted awarded to Cloud) and their reaction when it was awarded to Dever. 

The C.C. posting also decried the FOP's endorsement decision, claiming the union should not support Dever because he and "his boys do not have any employee's interests in mind when making decisions."

Cloud campaign webmaster Tim Richardson said in a phone interview the C.C. posting and several others related to the FOP endorsement were recently deleted because the comments were getting "off track."  According to Richardson, neither he nor Cloud were aware at the time of any questions about the identity of the C.C. author or the validity of the author's claims. 

Before the posting was removed it was widely distributed among law enforcement personnel, County staff, and voters who are following the battle between Cloud and Dever leading to the September 2 primary election. Several copies of the posting are known to exist because it was emailed and printed by many readers. 

Richardson confirmed that the blog program is vulnerable to abuses and that it would be easy for someone other than the real Sheriff's Office employee to have posted the entry.  He screen to input a new posting is set up so any name (or initials) and any email address can be entered, with no verification.

Thus someone wanting to embarrass or humiliate the Sheriff by posing as a disgruntled employee could do so very easily.

 Richardson pointed out that the main page of the blog cautions readers to 'make their own evaluations of the comments presented and consider for themselves the validity of information presented.'

When told of the posting's content and the possible identify of its author, Sheriff Dever emphatically denied believing the employee had anything to do with the comments.

He also explained that he is not surprised by the apparently fictional blog posting.

'This would not be the first time someone in an opponent's campaign resorted to underhanded tactics in an attempt to create dissention in the ranks,' said Dever, who is running for his fourth term as Sheriff. “I have no reason to believe anyone in my staff would sink so low. It's too bad we can't simply stick to the issues.”

Dever added that County employees are free to support candidates and be active in their campaigns, as long as it's done on their personal time. Several are known to be involved in the election efforts of the three candidates.

According to the Secretary of State's office, which oversees elections and campaign laws, if a complaint of fraudulent campaign tactics is filed it is  possible authorities to seize computers and subpeona internet service records in an attempt to identify the true author of the posting.

If the author of the July 7 C.C. posting proves to be someone other than the employee connected to the email address, authorities may have grounds to look into whether other anti-Dever postings on the blog written by various authors may also have been fraudulent. 

In light that the employee connected to the email addres has vehemently denied being the author, Richardson says the Cloud campaign will eagerly cooperate with any investigation undertaken to find out who actually authored the posting.  "Such comments aren't what Billy Cloud or this campaign is about," he explained.

 Cloud and Dever are scheduled to attend a July 18 Republican candidates forum hosted by the 1200 Club in Sierra Vista, and event organizers expect a large turnout.  The winner of the Republican primary will face Democrat Norman Bradley in the November 4 general election.