A formerly anonymous commenter on the website of the Idaho Spokesman Review newspaper who was sued for libel by a local Republican official and who sought to protect her anonymity at first has now revealed her identity as that of Linda Cook, a Republican activist herself, The Spokesman Review reported on Monday.
The Spokesman Review had initially fought a subpoena to hand over the Cook’s identity, but lost the nationally significant case after a judge in mid-July ruled that free speech and rights to privacy don’t apply to libelous speech.
Cook, maintains that in February when she posted her comment accusing local Republican Party Chair Tina Jacobson of embezzlement by “stuff[ing] $10,000…inside her blouse,” Cook believed the information was accurate, saying she “received a call” about the Republican Party’s finances, as The Spokesman Review reported. An independent audit found that there was no impropriety with the party’s finances.
