WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Maryland politician who said he would sue a newspaper if it printed his name, Kirby Delauter, has apologized after his threat garnered national attention, the targeted newspaper reported on Thursday.
Delauter, a Republican member of the Frederick County Council, on Saturday said in a Facebook posting that he would sue the Frederick News-Post if it used his name without permission.
"Of course, as I am an elected official, the Frederick News-Post has the right to use my name in any article related to the running of the county – that comes with the job," Delauter wrote in a statement carried in an online News-Post story.
"So yes, my statement to the Frederick News-Post regarding the use of my name was wrong and inappropriate."
Delauter, a second-term member of the county council, was angered by a story about a flap over the council's parking spaces and office keys.
In a Facebook posting, he wrote, "Use my name again unauthorized and you'll be paying for an attorney."
The 30,000-circulation daily paper responded with a story and an editorial headlined "Kirby Delauter, Kirby Delauter, Kirby Delauter" that used his full name 25 times. In an acrostic, the first letter of each paragraph also spelled out Delauter's name.
The dispute went viral on the Internet, showing up on news sites and the hashtag #kirbydelauter trending on Twitter.