Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
Politics as usual or something more?
The person behind RitchieWebb.com was revealed last week by the former Neshaminy School Board president and his attorney.
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According to documents the two secured through a court order, Democratic Party of Middletown Township leader Harry Arnold purchased the domain that Webb says was filled with misrepresentations and falsehoods about his beliefs during the 2014 Democratic primary campaign for the 142nd State House district race. The documents show the website was purchased anonymously from GoDaddy.com in 2014 by Arnold through a nonprofit foundation he is associated with.
(Of note: the Democratic Party of Middletown Township is not backed by the Bucks County Democratic Party. The county-backed group is the Middletown Township Democrats and is led by Levittown resident Bill Appleton. The split happened in 2014 after a disagreement between local Democrats.)
Despite multiple attempts to get in contact with Arnold over the past week, he did not return phone messages, answer a number listed on the registration paperwork or an email request for comment.
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Webb did speak with LevittownNow.com and reiterated the website is one of the “lowest political tricks” he has encountered.
RitchieWebb.com first appeared online in April 2014 and used the candidate’s name and likeness on it. The site asked whether he was a “Folk hero or Fraud.” In addition, the website called out Webb on his views of drilling, abortion, unions and his switch from Republican to Democrat.
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Webb and his attorney, Lou Hornstine, sent a cease-and-desist letter to hosting provider GoDaddy.com in May 2014 and got the website taken down. From there, they fought a roughly year-long battle in the courts to unmask the creator of the website.
“People state things they shouldn’t online just because they are behind a screen,” Webb told Levittownnow.com. “Truth is, I want everyone to know who did this.”
Horstine said the battle was to expose who made the website.
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“Ritchie was determined to confront the man even though the individual made a concerted effort to hide his own identity. It is actions like this that prevents good men and women from running for public office,” the attorney said.
As of Wednesday, it is not clear if Arnold used personal funds or funds from the Fairless Hills-based nonprofit he used to register the site to pay for the GoDaddy.com registration.
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Webb said he would not go into details but he plans to work the situation out with Arnold.
Previously, Webb called whoever created the website a “coward.”
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Webb lost the primary to Democrat Gina Kiley, who lost in the general election to Republican Frank Farry.
Editor’s Note: Lou Hornstine serves as the business attorney for LevittownNow.com and its parent company but has no editorial influence over news articles published.
