Comments about ‘Man whose photo was usurped by West Valley mayor wants apology’

Actually, don't individuals have a copyright on their own likeness and image, unless they sign a release for someone to use it?

If so, Peter Burwash has a copyright on his image and the Mayor's use of it is at least a copyright violation.

Either way, this is much more serious than the Mayor and many of his supporters think it is.

âWinder's actions show a lack of good sense and a deficiency of judgment that is mind boggling. He has abused not only the trust of West Valley citizens but every person who reads the Deseret News,â Bishop said.

Bingo. I'm a conservative and I don't see how anyone, no matter how much they personally like Mike, can justify his reckless behavior. I feel bad for the real Mr. Burwash and the unfortunate way his good name has been dragged into Winder's questionable quest for ego-gratification.

Winder should show some responsibility and just step down.

I empathize with the Mayor's motives, but he should not have used someone else's identity. I am an officer in a public company and I keep my actions extremely circumspect. The truth comes out. In fact as I write this it occurs to me that I better not send an anonymous letter I was contemplating writing.

A very dumb move by the Mayor.

Why hasn't he bothered to apologize to someone who feels victimized by his actions? Mayor winder just keeps piling on the poor decisions it seems. (Someone ought to take him aside privately and tell him that just because he won an election he isn't above everyone else with regards to what is decent, honest and above-board.)

Actually, I left a voice mail and apology on Peter Burwash's home phone earlier this afternoon before this story broke. I also left him another message this evening for him and hope he calls me back soon. I admit that this was a dumb thing to do. My intentions were good, and it seemed rather innocent and Silence Dogood-like (Ben Franklin), but it is not as simple as sending in stories with a false gmail account. When I was asked to upload a photo I pulled a random one off of Google images and found out just today who it was. I am indeed sorry, especially to Mr. Burwash for any harm done. Hopefully people have learned from this. I know I have!

This is not something citizens should take lightly, it is a serious crime and injustice to the trust and office he holds. Even to the point of dismissal fro conduct unbecoming of an elected official. The city council should be demanding his immediate resignation.

Winder was totally wrong to think he had the authority to impersonate or lie about the state of the city he was elected to represent. Winder has shamed his good father, his family and its name by this act of deception. A historical family and its name has now been tarnished and he deserves no quarters.

Winder lives a lie and runs a haven city for fugitive illegal aliens hiding from the law and he thinks he can write lies to cover up crimes the city commits? WVC city made a mockery of itself this last summer wasting tens of thousand of dollars searching the west desert and this blackens the credibly of this mayors ability to serve the citizens.

@ Mike Winder.

I wish you haden't done it. I'm glad you learned from it and that you appologized to Mr. Burwash. Thanks for writing in today. It let's me know that you have recognized your mistake. Now, put this behind you and be the best mayor you can for West Valley City.

The big question is how can a newspaper be fooled so easily, and for so long?

uh ooh! that's one very bad move. lies, impersonation, lies, identity theft, lies, impugning of another's reputation, lies, use of bad grammar, lies, more lies, oh, i could go on and on, but ..

even ghost writers use fake names for cripes sake.

not even a cursory plagarism check or style check like those done on the thousands of student submissions in college's?

Mike Winder,

The Washington Post has an article on this "identity theft". USA Today, the Atlantic Cities, the Standard, and many more media outlets have publicized this atrocious violation of ethics.

The embarrassment you have brought to the City of West Valley, the State of Utah, the LDS Church, Deseret News, KSL, and other organizations with which you affiliate, is only exceeded by lack of trust you have created among your friends and constituents.

To allow you to "get away with" this, without any political or social consequences, would be irresponsible. Your political/public service career should be over.

Do not continue to minimize this by claiming your "intentions were good". We all know what path is paved with good intentions. Do not minimize this by claiming it was "dumb" - no, it was much more than that. It was UNETHICAL. It was a violation of TRUST. It was DECEPTION pure and simple.

Mr. Winder, when you pulled a "random image" from Google, you must have known it belonged to a real person whose last name was Burwash. How could using someone else's picture for deceitful purposes have seemed "innocent" to you?

Sorry, but I think your moral compass is broken ... partly because of your past conduct and partly because you still don't seem to grasp the seriousness of the problem.

@ Mike Winder

Mayor Winder, thank you for your response here. I'm glad to hear of your messaged apology to Mr. Burwash. A couple of things in your response concern me, however. Please explain how a "random" photo ends up being of a man with the same, not-particularly-common last name as that of your pseudonym. Second, if you were trying to make like Ben Franklin, why not choose a similarly-clever pen-name unlikely to belong to a real person, particularly if you didn't know the Deseret Connect policy on pseudonyms?

Mike Winder's consistent minimizing of his dumb, unethical act makes me wonder about his true character. It seems to me as if he is lacking of the character needed to lead one of our largest cities in Utah.

@Winder,

Please stop trying to excuse your unethical and bad conduct by trivializing what you did. What you did was wrong, and is incredibly serious! It's time to step up and step down.

Also, your apology needs to be in person, not on a voicemail, and you should be doing more to contact him than waiting for him to call you back. Not only did you cause an innocent person pain and inconvenience, you violated the trust of your electorate by your actions. Your city also deserves an official, sincere apology. Oh, and for your reference an apology is a renunciation of your conduct, not a string of excuses.

Unfortunately your efforts to promote the city have now tarnished the city's reputation on a national level.

@Winder,

Please stop trying to excuse your unethical and bad conduct by trivializing what you did. What you did was wrong, and is incredibly serious! It's time to step up and step down.

Also, your apology needs to be in person, not on a voicemail, and you should be doing more to contact him than waiting for him to call you back. Not only did you cause an innocent person pain and inconvenience, you violated the trust of your electorate by your actions. Your city also deserves an official, sincere apology. Oh, and for your reference an apology is a renunciation of your conduct, not a string of excuses.

Unfortunately your efforts to promote the city have now tarnished the city's reputation on a national level.

Doesn't Mayor Winder also owe an apology to his constituents?

It wasn't Watergate that brought down Nixon. It was the cover-up.

Of course, Nixon wasn't the one who violated the law. If he'd have broken in himself, THAT would have brought him down.