Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Digest

Fake web addresses lead to porn site

By TIMES WIRES
Published March 15, 2007

TAMPA 

Joseph Caetano and Frank Margarella are candidates for Tampa City Council. But Web sites bearing their full names are far less civic-minded. They forward the viewer instantly to a site of hard-core gay pornography.

The candidates aren't happy, but aren't sure what they can do. The Web sites are registered to fictitious parties at bogus addresses. The administrator listed for the Margarella site is "Lilly Muenster," a misspelling for a sitcom character in The Munsters.

"I think it's disgusting, and I don't think anybody should be able to do that," said Caetano, whose true campaign Web site is joecaetano.com.

Caetano said he would ask state Sen. Victor Crist, R-Tampa, to sponsor legislation to outlaw such use of another person's name.

Margarella said he didn't think it would affect the March 27 runoff election, in which one of the two New Tampa businessmen will be elected to represent District 7 on the City Council.

"Fortunately, he was even-handed in the prank," Margarella said.

"If they were targeting one of us, they would have done just one of us," Caetano said.

Margarella said he had no suspects.

"It's probably somebody from New Tampa who doesn't like us or thought it was funny and had a couple of Budweisers."

[Last modified March 15, 2007, 01:57:04]