Auditor imposter stifled

Since December of 2016, “E. Coker” has been tweeting under the Twitter name @SnortingCoker. The tweets were written in first person, leading readers to assume the account was tended by Whitman County Auditor Eunice Coker. Coker did not learn of the account until last month and took steps to have it removed as it never stated it was not Coker actually writing the tweets.

“All the things that are in there insult my integrity,” she said.

Initially, Coker visited with the county’s prosecutor about taking action, but chose to follow Twitter’s channels to report the account for impersonation which is against Twitter’s policy. She told the Gazette that she would like the person or group doing it to come to talk to her; not to confront them, but to educate them on her position.

The postings made on the E. Coker account include off-beat policy statements and comments linked to public reports and stories related to Auditor Coker.

The Twitter posts use “I” which Coker contends indicates she is the person who posts the tweets.

For example, a Nov. 28 Twitter posting included photos of a Lewiston Tribune account in which Coker’s opinion of the fate of Pullman’s bond proposals and Pullman City Attorney Laura McAloon’s opinions are contrasted.

The E. Coker posting on the article said, “I never told the city of Pullman the bonds passed and neither did Karen. It’s a witch hunt.” (Karen is believed to refer to Karen Bafus, elections office staff.)

Another E. Coker posting commenting on the article stated, “Headline is did they pass or did they fail? It is my LEGAL OPINION that they failed.”

In a third Nov. 28 posting E. Coker states on Twitter, “Maybe if people & the press quit calling my office all the time we’d have the chance to do some work and not have people accuse us of things when really we need more people. Thanks county commissioners for understaffing us completely and not giving us training.”

An E. Coker posting last Jan. 10 noted, “I will be speaking @PullmanKiwanis on Thursday. I’m excited to have the chance to answer any questions unless it is about accuracy.”

After Coker started taking action for impersonation, the account briefly changed its name Monday from E. Coker to Whitman Co. Queen Bee and stated “This is an obvious parody account, offering satire.” Later that day the account was completely removed from Twitter, leaving no trace of @SnortingCoker.