Alum resigns campaign manager post in Wikipedia debacle
by The Associated Press
News | 5/2/06
Posted online at 3:55 PM EST on 5/2/06
ATLANTA-Morton Brilliant '94, the campaign manager for Secretary of State Cathy Cox resigned on Wednesday amid allegations that he altered an online biography of her Democratic opponent to add a mention of his son's arrest in a fatal drunk driving accident.
Cox said an internal investigation confirmed that the posting about her opponent, Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, on Wikipedia, a popular online encyclopedia, came from within her gubernatorial campaign.
"My campaign manager Morton Brilliant, who is responsible for all the work in my office, has offered me his resignation and I have accepted it,'' Cox said in a statement.
Cox apologized to Taylor and his family.
"From the very day I learned of the Taylor family tragedy, I laid down the law with my staff and supporters: This personal matter would have absolutely no place in my campaign, whatsoever,'' Cox said.
"Today, I have once again made it clear to my staff that personal attacks, especially on the family members of candidates, are completely off limits.''
The shakeup in Cox's campaign comes a day after Taylor's camp first alleged that Brilliant, a former arts editor of the Justice, had doctored Taylor's Wikipedia entry to add information on Fletcher Taylor's August 2005 drunk driving arrest in Charleston, S.C. Fletcher Taylor is awaiting trial on charges stemming from that crash, which left his best friend dead.
Taylor spokesman Rick Dent called for Brilliant to be fired, saying a trace of online traffic showed that the revisions came from Brilliant's computer.
"The Taylor family appreciates Cathy Cox's words and we hope now this will be the end of personal, gutter politics in this campaign,'' Dent said Wednesday.
The Taylor campaign had provided documents showing that the same online server that revised Taylor's profile also tinkered with biographies on races in Washington state and South Carolina. Brilliant worked on both contests.
Cox has stressed ethics in her campaign and said she would not resort to politics as usual in her bid to become Georgia's first female governor.
Cox said an internal investigation confirmed that the posting about her opponent, Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, on Wikipedia, a popular online encyclopedia, came from within her gubernatorial campaign.
"My campaign manager Morton Brilliant, who is responsible for all the work in my office, has offered me his resignation and I have accepted it,'' Cox said in a statement.
Cox apologized to Taylor and his family.
"From the very day I learned of the Taylor family tragedy, I laid down the law with my staff and supporters: This personal matter would have absolutely no place in my campaign, whatsoever,'' Cox said.
"Today, I have once again made it clear to my staff that personal attacks, especially on the family members of candidates, are completely off limits.''
The shakeup in Cox's campaign comes a day after Taylor's camp first alleged that Brilliant, a former arts editor of the Justice, had doctored Taylor's Wikipedia entry to add information on Fletcher Taylor's August 2005 drunk driving arrest in Charleston, S.C. Fletcher Taylor is awaiting trial on charges stemming from that crash, which left his best friend dead.
Taylor spokesman Rick Dent called for Brilliant to be fired, saying a trace of online traffic showed that the revisions came from Brilliant's computer.
"The Taylor family appreciates Cathy Cox's words and we hope now this will be the end of personal, gutter politics in this campaign,'' Dent said Wednesday.
The Taylor campaign had provided documents showing that the same online server that revised Taylor's profile also tinkered with biographies on races in Washington state and South Carolina. Brilliant worked on both contests.
Cox has stressed ethics in her campaign and said she would not resort to politics as usual in her bid to become Georgia's first female governor.
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