A Democratic state legislator in Pennsylvania who has voted against cyber-bullying legislation in the past appears to have repeatedly used Internet aliases to attack a constituent for her stance on energy policy.
A user with the same IP address as Rep. Jesse White, an outspoken opponent of the natural gas extraction technique hydraulic fracturing, left numerous comments on online news stories harassing Janice Gibbs, a Pennsylvania resident.
White would not deny that he posted the comments, telling a local CBS station that he has "no comment on this personal and political attack."
A number of the comments were posted under Gibbs’ own name, or under the similar pseudonym Janice Gibson. All had the same IP address as comments left under White’s name.
White was the only member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to vote against legislation – in committee and on the House floor – criminalizing "online impersonation." When the bill was reintroduced this year, White did vote for it.
According to CBS, White is also the registrant of the web domain GasRootsPA.com, which is a blog that has reportedly maligned hydraulic fracturing supporters as "whores."
Online comments from a user with White’s IP address called Gibbs "dumber than a box of rocks" and "an embarrassment to her community."
Update (2:15 p.m.): Rep. Jesse White admitted Thursday to carrying out online attacks under fake accounts in a statement posted to his Facebook page. See the full statement below:
For the past several years, I have asked the tough questions few have been willing to ask to ensure natural gas drilling is done the safest way possible in Pennsylvania. My efforts have drawn the attention of multi-million dollar energy industry groups like Energy In Depth, who have published numerous misleading and personal attacks against me in an attempt to distract people from the real issues and discredit my character. These attacks have included anonymous or fictitious posts on various websites.
On occasion, I have exercised my First Amendment rights and responded in kind, which was an error in judgment that I regret. To be clear, I did not use government resources while posting comments on these sites.
I apologize to Janice Gibbs and Donald Roessler for any action I’ve taken that may have been offensive or hurtful, and I will be extending a private invitation to meet with them to discuss our viewpoints face-to-face in an effort to find common ground and foster a more professional and respectful level of communication.
I will not stop asking the tough questions and standing up for what I believe in, because the stakes are too high to allow petty differences to distract us from ensuring that we're developing our natural resources in a responsible way that generates an economic benefit to our community but also protects the people who live and work here.