Ryan Jerz :: Reno Blogger

Misc: The Cobb Gobbler

I can’t help it. Never in my life have I been so enamored with local politics. I always thought it relatively inconsequential, mainly because the players never made it on television, so I figured they were unimportant. Of course, I always felt like their actions carried more impact on my daily life, so it was a tough spot to be in. But with the complete proliferation of the internets, a new era has entered my life. I am obsessed with local politicos.

I was a part of several debates in 2004. The debates ranged from state Supreme Court seats to ballot questions, with assembly and senate races in between. I even was a part of a certain Family Court Judge debate. Sometimes they were moderated, and sometimes we let the debaters go without moderation. One thing I took from almost all of the debates is that local politicians can be bitter and spiteful. There isn’t much I dislike more than bitter and spiteful people, so I tend to get bitter and spiteful when I’m around them.

I won’t bore anyone with the details of my recent history with local hacks today, but if you’re interested, search for some of the names I’m about to mention. You can search over on the left side.

I had gotten involved in yet another comment thread about the NICPAC yahoos, when out of nowhere comes a commenter named, “Gobbler.” To my surprise, the commenter 1) had a name, and 2) had a website. Excellent. I was directed to a site called, The Cobb Gobbler (I’ll bet they all stood around laughing when they came up with that one). Apparently the purpose of The Cobb Gobbler is to defeat Ty Cobb, Jr. in the Assembly 26 race. Like the top post when I visited said, “A Vote for Cobb is a Vote for Las Vegas.” That might actually be true. But what gets me more than anything is how dirty politics is, and how dishonest most of the players are. So even if you’ve decided to take it upon yourself to defeat a guy, and you show the world that he’s a lying cheat, you better damn well be clean yourself. That’s my view of it, so that’s what I’m going to work to acheive. And what better way to do that than to start at the local level?

I was intrigued by Gobbler. So I milled around the site for a minute, read a thing or two, scrolled down to the bottom to see if he introduces himself, etc. Then I decided to do a little bit of research. I hit up Network Solutions, clicked on the WHOIS button, and typed in cobbgobbler.com. Voila. The site is registered to one Mike Dillon, opponent of Ty Cobb in the Republican primary. I’ve written about Dillon here before. I never have trusted the guy in running for office, but this takes the cake. I’m having a hard time with this, too. Considering it took me 15 seconds to find out that Mike Dillon is the registered owner of the domain, is he even trying to keep it a secret? And this post where he calls himself “frat boy” but makes sure to mention he’s the only viable opposition to Cobb is interesting, too. Is he trying to throw us off the trail? Is the whole thing a sham?

That question leads me to the next revelation. Dillon’s address, as listed on the WHOIS record, is the same as the address for NICPAC übersetzer Eric Odom. Considering the information is completely public to anyone with experience on the internet, I’ll post the addresses. That’s interesting, considering Odom’s clan has endorsed and he represents candidate Richard Disney, another candidate for that same seat. What did you say? The site is unavailable? Well, at least it was this morning as I wrote (but they did forget to take this one down). Is Disney out of the race now? Where was the announcement? Weould anyone have heard the announcement if there was one? And how did Dillon come into favor with Eric Odom? Oh wait, sorry. Forgot about the website for a minute. Obviously someone had to pay for the clipart design at the top of the page.

So, to recap, we have a site set up by Mike Dillon to trash his opponent, but Dillon is either being used or isn’t very smart, because his desired anonymity is non-existent. We have matching addresses for Dillon and Eric Odom, major playerâ„¢. We have the disappearance of Richard Disney, whom Odom had endorsed previously. The only thing we’re missing on an official level is the endorsement of Dillon and the dropping out of unperson Disney. Also, be sure to look for a column by a certain lifestyle writer in the RGJ about how young, hip, cool, and tatted up the NICPAC guys are. Finally, look for Ty Cobb to run away with the nomination. If I lived in his district, he’d have my vote, just out of bitterness and spite.

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posted by Ryan Jerz on 06/13/2006

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