Why is Steve Theriot making Da Paper hire lawyers?

In Jefferson Parish, interim President Steve Theriot feels he's been defamed.

He feels so strongly about it that he's decided to sue those he believes said bad things about him. But it appears that his outrage doesn't extend to using his own money to protect what he considers his good name and reputation. In the midst of a scandal of epic proportions in parish government, the man brought in to restore order is filing frivolous lawsuits on the taxpayer's dime.

Some of the remarks from the NOLA.com comment sewer that they've published seem pretty tame, particularly by the very-high standard of defaming a public official:

"Theriot, just another Jefferson Parish politician thug mobster trained by his mentor John Alario, dressed up in a facade of respectability by a corrupt Louisiana Legislature," stated a Jan. 27 comment under the user name "viewfromhell."

Now, Theriot can't tell me that this mortally offended him to the point of wanting satisfaction in the courts, particularly after a career as a legislator on the West Bank of Jefferson.

So, what we've got here is the guy hired to clean up the parish executive tossing out plump legal gigs to one of the city's largest legal firms. How much different is that from some of Broussard's shenanigans?

Then there's the lawsuit itself. Theriot is being a crybaby over comments made by people using 11 screen names at NOLA.com. Da Paper doesn't require "real" information or an extended profile when registering there, so sock puppetry abounds. While the actual defendants of the suit are the people behind those accounts, the defense here is being mounted by Da Paper. Theriot wants to compel NOLA.com to reveal the names behind the user accounts. Da Paper is going to fight that in a big way, they don't want to be in the position of revealing sources at any level, particularly in a political dispute. This makes me wonder, why does Steve Theriot have the red-ass for Da Paper? By the time he gets any information about the people he believes have defamed him, the lawyers for NOLA.com will have applied the laugh test against the actual defamation charge. An identified defendant will most likely obtain a summary dismissal at that point.

It's interesting to note that the suit mentions a blog, "Slabbed," which is written/maintained by a guy in Mississippi. The suit "references" this site, but they're not named as a defendant. The only defendants are anonymous NOLA.com commenters. Theriot isn't making somebody from MS who doesn't like him spend money on lawyers; Theriot is just making Da Paper spend money.

Someone really should ask him why he doesn't like Da Paper.

Even if Da Paper does give over the account information, there's still no guarantee it's real. I don't know if Theriot and his Phelps Dunbar lawyers realize this; some lawyers aren't very savvy in the ways of online communication. In any case, it's billable time to the firm, paid for by the taxpayers of Jeff Parish, courtesy Steve Theriot.