We always there was something disingenuous about the conservative letters they publish in the Chron! The Contra Costa Times discovered that an enterprising Republican named Kyle Vallone had written at least 200 fake letters to various Northern California newspapers, and gotten at least 20 of them in. Vallone would use fake names and free email accounts to identify the pieces and then when the fact-checkers came, disguise his voice on the phone. "I'm very good at accents," he said, and noted he was particularly proud of the name "Batswala Dala."

Vallone specialized in conservative letters, noting that he'd gotten seven letters against Barbara Boxer published, but had also written on a range of topics, like recalling Gray Davis and boosting missile defense. Interestingly, Vallone had also been busted (under his own name) for plagiarizing a published letter from the Wall Street Journal. Read the article, it's pretty entertaining! Even Wonkette thought so.

This reminds us of that smart kid summer camp class that got a bunch of letters published in the New York Times. And who can forget the Bay Area's original fake letter-writing crank, Lazlo Toth? (a.k.a. Don Novello/Father Guido Sarducci).

thought