Dirty tricks in MLS fight

Julio Gonzalez Altamirano, a technology consultant who describes himself as “an active citizen” and writes about the city, transportation and the need for improvements, discovered Monday that someone was impersonating him. The person or persons behind a set of fake emails to the mayor and City Council remains unknown, but he or they were obviously trying to sway Council against voting for a deal with Precourt Sports Ventures, the group hoping to bring Major League Soccer to Austin. Gonzalez, a former board member of the Austin Monitor’s parent company, Capital of Texas Media Foundation, tweeted on Monday:

Hello @mls2atx. I want to make you aware of some sketchy activity being done in your name that you should help stop. Apparently, someone impersonating me blasted this to all Council Members & their aides. I was asked to confirm that I sent the mail. I clarified it was fraudulent. pic.twitter.com/FaJuxPy6GH

— Julio Gonzalez (@juliogatx) June 25, 2018

When asked how he learned about the fraudulent emails, Gonzalez said it was an astute observer in Council Member Greg Casar’s office. He explained, “I was their appointee to the City Manager Search Advisory Task Force, and they have a good sense of my personal email, how I write my name (no hyphen), and writing style.” Mark Littlefield, one of the consultants working to bring the Columbus Crew SC to Austin, said they had done a good job of weeding out some fake supporters and people from Columbus who might be trying to sabotage the deal but they do not know who was behind the impersonation. For his part, Gonzalez told us via text, “I love football soccer. I am most certainly a fan of both the men and women’s game. Having an MLS team would bring me great joy. In public social media I’ve indicated that the 1st PSV proposal is not yet a ‘good’ deal. But I think one is possible. I have not reviewed the new proposal and rendering at this point. I am writing a detailed analysis on the deal, now that I’ve been dragged into this.” That’s probably not what the tricksters were looking for.