Tom Spurgeon's Web site of comics news, reviews, interviews and commentary











March 15, 2012


Waiting On Possible Criminal Charges Against Mike Konopacki

A Wisconsin Republican state assemblyman Steve Nass filed a formal criminal complaint against the cartoonist Mike Konpacki last week after Konopacki assembled a fake version of a press release using a faked version of the assemblyman's letterhead. The release briefly led to some on-line reportage that, because it was based on a parody release, was not true. At the heart of the conflict between the cartoonist and the politician is apparently the politician's move to suspend a planned art show done in conjunction with the one-year anniversary of political protests in the state. Konopacki has since apologized for the appropriation, and has reportedly been suspended from his current gig.

While one supposes there's a vigorous debate to be had about what constitutes parody and what constitutes potential fraud, which is certainly something that will be debated in criminal charges are filed based on the complaint, at this point I would hope that cooler heads prevail and that Konpacki's admission that his move was a step too far will bring about a similar confession from the politician's office that pursuing a felony charge with jail time attached also seems a ridiculous use of any of the system's time given the measures taken by the employer. I'm not totally optimistic about this.
 
posted 7:00 am PST | Permalink
 

 
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