Hilly Boy's Deception (as in the Lovely Tennessee Rep. Matthew Hill)

Timothy Hill got busted for trying to delete unfavorable, but true, information on David Davis and Matthew Hill from Wikipedia, from a congressional computer. What a great use of our tax-funded assets. Good job bringing negative attention to your boss and your brother.

Kingsport Times News: Davis aide under fire for trying change information in his boss' and brother's online biographies. (Aug. 11)

Knoxville News Sentinel: Entries on Wikipedia edited by Davis aide: Press secretary also admits deleting info on brother via federal computer. (Aug. 11)

Knoxville News Sentinel Blog Post: Congressional wiki-shenanigans. (Aug. 13)

The story was first reported by a local blogger: U.S. Rep. David Davis' Playhouse: His House office using federal tax dollars to vandalize Wikipedia political bios.

Here's yet another blogger who wrote about Hill's "mistake": Aide to Rep. Davis Caught Altering Online Bio.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from little Timmy:

-When initially contacted about the attempts to revise the Davis and Rep. Hill biographies, Hill told the News Sentinel he was not personally responsible. But he called a reporter back later to say he had spoken off the cuff on his cell phone in the midst of a hectic event involving the congressman and “miscommunicated.”
-Hill said in an interview that he made a mistake that would not be repeated.
-Timothy Hill described himself as "kind of a hard charger."
-"I have searched hundreds if not thousands of sites and stories weekly."(Does he have anything better to do?)
-"I had never really been to the site before, and I didn't understand how to use it."
-"I don't anticipate attempting to edit any Wikipedia again."
-“It wasn’t anything that was intended to be destructive or disruptive,” Hill said.

This is nice too: Wade Munday, spokesman for the Tennessee Democratic Party, said the situation “calls the judgment of Congressman Davis and his staff into question about what is the appropriate and inappropriate use of their time as public servants.”

Munday said it would be appropriate for a political campaign, following Wikipedia procedures, to challenge information deemed incorrect on a Web site entry. Many campaigns do so, he said.

But he said it was inappropriate for “a staffer on a federal payroll” and using the U.S. House computer system to do so.
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The commenters on both newspaper stories don't seem to be buying Hill's claims of "misunderstanding": "Mr. Timothy Hill tries to portray himself as unintelligent within the internet atmosphere. Thats pure and simple baloney, and for him to alter parts of an entry because he thought they were "inacurrate" shows how much he knows about his boss. Those Hill brothers are surely creating a name for themselves in this region. And by "name" I mean "bad image."

Here is the article for Search Engine Land that discussed the repeated, unethical attempts at vandalism from a congressional computer: SEO Tips & Tactics From A Wikipedia Insider.