The Mayor of Peoria, Illinois, was furious. Someone was making fun of him via a fake twitter account, so the Mayor went to war.
What happened next is both weird and fascinating.
Chronicled in a well written story in today's New York Times--this is a lesson we in politics should all understand: Just because a politician is a powerful elected official with thin skin and a massive ego--this person still cannot deny someone their right to free speech. And using official taxpayer funded resources to go after someone who parodies elected officials ends badly for such a politician (and taxpayers too, unfortunately...)
From the Chicago Tribune's coverage of this story:
A Peoria man who repeatedly parodied the city's mayor on Twitter, then saw police raid his home in an unsuccessful attempt to bring criminal charges against him, has agreed to settle his lawsuit against the city, his lawyers and the city announced Wednesday.
Peoria will pay Jon Daniel $125,000 in damages and attorney's fees to settle the lawsuit brought in June 2014, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, whose lawyers represented Daniel.
"I'm really satisfied with the outcome in this case," Daniel said in a
