Orland Park Public Library employee Bridget Bittman decided a few months ago to file what I would call a frivolous lawsuit to silence critics of the library’s free access to child pornography and her actions while employed at the library, see background on this lawsuit (here).
Bittman set up a gofundme, #fightfair page to solicit donations for her lawsuit – thinking other people needed to pay for it – stating that “THE SITUATION IS SO DESPERATE THAT SHE IS DRAWING FROM HER HOME EQUITY LINE OF CREDIT” to fund the lawsuit:
Copied directly from her gofundme page:
The lawsuit is not a frivolous filing. She is not dipping into a personal store of cash to pay for the defamation lawsuit– the situation is so desperate that she is drawing from her home equity line of credit to seek relief from the harassment she has endured.
Wow, pretty desperate – where do I donate?! She must be eating bean and rice in order to pay for this lawsuit…But wait, there’s more…
Apparently the situation is not so desperate after all, because she seems to have the funds available to take a Spring Break vacation in Florida as pictures captured from her facebook page show:
Bittman @ Beach
Florida?
Bittman in Florida
Bittman in Florida
That’s right, the situation is so desperate that she had to go on a Florida vacation.
Bittman has been aggressively soliciting money online to fund her lawsuit and most of the identified donors to her campaign are employees of public libraries or members of the American Library Association. There is a strong argument that these people chipped in for Bittman’s lawsuit because silencing critics of one public library benefits all libraries, since people are afraid of being sued.
Bittman recently posted a bunch of photos to her Facebook account of a spring break trip she took this year to Florida. The page she has setup to fundraise for her lawsuit claims she is desperate for every penny she can find to fund her litigation. Yet, she could apparently afford an expensive trip to Florida this year and a week on the beach. That doesn’t add up.
Perhaps this online fundraising campaign is just a PR stunt by Bittman to depict herself sympathetically. On her LinkedIn profile, Bittman claims to be a 20-year expert in public relations and “crisis management” techniques. She also claims to have done PR for the DuPage County Board.
Someone who truly needs to solicit funds online from strangers to fund her SLAPP lawsuit would not seem to have any money to spare for an expensive spring break trip to Florida right now. A person who was truly desperate enough for money to be aggressively begging for it online would not even be able to go to Florida in the off season, let alone pricy spring break (the most expensive time of year to be flying down to Florida).
Please take this into consideration should you feel the need to make donations – and you might even consider donating to us!
Orland Park Library’s Bridget Bittman begs on GoFundMe – Vacations in Florida – – http://t.co/G1fHylQoZZ #GoogleAlerts @ECWDogs #nlw15
Joy Paulson
Posted at 18:09h, 12 April
Is what she is doing on GoFundMe allowed? I thought that if you made a claim on a GFM solicitation that every word in what you posted to potential donors had to be honest and true. If she states that she is desperate for money and implying that she is sinking every red cent into her attorney fees, then the fact that she is instead going on a vacation to Florida is a big deal. That could potentially be fraud as I understand it. I looked at the GFM terms of service and it states that you cannot make any false statements when soliciting money. That makes me question what else she has posted on GoFundMe and if other statements she made are untrue just to dupe more people into funding her (and apparently her trip to Florida).
By the way, this is exactly the kind of library news library media like Library Journal will never carry. They don’t want readers to know and they don’t want it in search engines.
Excellent reporting. Her Florida vacation gives more fuel to the fire that it is really the American Library Association who is funding her lawsuit.
I am named as a defendant in her SLAPP suit. She could care less about me. But ALA is very motivated to silence me, and her SLAPP suit may have been the excuse.
Further, she sued me and not you even though you outed her homophobia and I merely linked to your doing that.
I also outed ALA for allowing and covering up her homophobia, then destroying evidence of same. Besides, ALA targeted me by name when setting up the training where Bittman showed more evidence of gay hate in the service off covering up child pornography in public libraries as she acted as an ALA trainer.
ALA wants to silence me for saying something it does not want people to hear, namely, in many if not most states, existing state law already precludes public libraries from allowing porn including child porn. It is simply a matter of applying existing state law to get rid of porn and child porn in public libraries statewide, perhaps nationwide.
It is ALA itself that misleads the public on this very point basically by absolutely completely ignoring it. In reality, state law allows libraries to be set up for the use and benefit of the public, and porn and child porn is for the misuse and detriment of the public, just as the US Supreme Court found in the 2003 case ALA lost big, US v. ALA.
So allowing porn and child porn on public library computers is acting outside the law. And municipalities may be liable for failure to stop libraries from acting outside the law. That’s the message ALA is seeking to silence. And I began saying that during this very OPPL matter.
Again, Bittman could care less about me but ALA seeks to silence me. In my opinion ALA is funding the lawsuit. Perhaps it advised Bittman to set up the GoFundMe hoax to give a means to allow others to help silence me and to give a false appearance of what’s really happening, after all, ALA acolytes are using my involvement in the case to fund raise for Bittman. In my opinion it is highly likely that Bittman is violating the terms of her GoFundMe account. I should investigate that.
Yeah, that’s me, jealous of someone vacationing in Florida LOL…
No one said she wasn’t “allowed” to go to Florida, just that at the same time she is begging for money on gofundme, she apparently has the money to vacation in Florida during Spring Break…those that donated and are contemplating donating deserve to know.
RT @ECWDogs: Orland Park Library’s Bridget Bittman begs on GoFundMe – Vacations in Florida – http://t.co/rBGB6BQ1Qe
George Barraclough
Posted at 11:02h, 12 April
The Watchdogs would probably take a GoFundMe donation and spend it all on a Spring Break vacation on the beach over at one of those 42 Lake-Front lots, in high season, that
the Clark County Park District Board is trying to steal from the taxpayers, as referenced in their March 22, 2015 article!
sandy gray
Posted at 09:08h, 12 April
That takes a lot of balls given the fact that everyone knows her history with the BS going on at the OPPL. I’d be happy with half of the money she has caused the OPPL to spend on her frivious actions. Get a life board and start protecting the children and women who visit your library.
16 Comments
SafeLibraries
Posted at 13:27h, 14 April#nlwd15 #nlw15 #nlw2015 RT @ECWDogs: Orland Park Library’s Bridget Bittman begs on GoFundMe – Vacations in Florida – http://t.co/dgaSxYVG9u
SafeLibraries
Posted at 10:42h, 13 AprilOrland Park Library’s Bridget Bittman begs on GoFundMe – Vacations in Florida – – http://t.co/G1fHylQoZZ #GoogleAlerts @ECWDogs #nlw15
Joy Paulson
Posted at 18:09h, 12 AprilIs what she is doing on GoFundMe allowed? I thought that if you made a claim on a GFM solicitation that every word in what you posted to potential donors had to be honest and true. If she states that she is desperate for money and implying that she is sinking every red cent into her attorney fees, then the fact that she is instead going on a vacation to Florida is a big deal. That could potentially be fraud as I understand it. I looked at the GFM terms of service and it states that you cannot make any false statements when soliciting money. That makes me question what else she has posted on GoFundMe and if other statements she made are untrue just to dupe more people into funding her (and apparently her trip to Florida).
StoryTimeDigita
Posted at 17:38h, 12 April@EvilEsq Begging for litigation funds online but then going on vacation in Florida instead. http://t.co/KYP7X15Z3l
SafeLibraries
Posted at 16:00h, 12 AprilIt’s @GoFundMe for child #porn! MT @ECWDogs: Orland Park Library’s Bridget Bittman begs on GoFundMe, Vacations in FL: http://t.co/dgaSxYVG9u
SafeLibraries
Posted at 14:53h, 12 AprilBy the way, this is exactly the kind of library news library media like Library Journal will never carry. They don’t want readers to know and they don’t want it in search engines.
See also http://gizmodo.com/gofundme-is-a-great-way-to-scam-people-1681401839
Mitch
Posted at 18:06h, 12 AprilDELETED by moderator – He was never arrested, therefore never needed bail money
SafeLibraries
Posted at 12:00h, 12 AprilExcellent reporting. Her Florida vacation gives more fuel to the fire that it is really the American Library Association who is funding her lawsuit.
I am named as a defendant in her SLAPP suit. She could care less about me. But ALA is very motivated to silence me, and her SLAPP suit may have been the excuse.
Further, she sued me and not you even though you outed her homophobia and I merely linked to your doing that.
I also outed ALA for allowing and covering up her homophobia, then destroying evidence of same. Besides, ALA targeted me by name when setting up the training where Bittman showed more evidence of gay hate in the service off covering up child pornography in public libraries as she acted as an ALA trainer.
ALA wants to silence me for saying something it does not want people to hear, namely, in many if not most states, existing state law already precludes public libraries from allowing porn including child porn. It is simply a matter of applying existing state law to get rid of porn and child porn in public libraries statewide, perhaps nationwide.
It is ALA itself that misleads the public on this very point basically by absolutely completely ignoring it. In reality, state law allows libraries to be set up for the use and benefit of the public, and porn and child porn is for the misuse and detriment of the public, just as the US Supreme Court found in the 2003 case ALA lost big, US v. ALA.
So allowing porn and child porn on public library computers is acting outside the law. And municipalities may be liable for failure to stop libraries from acting outside the law. That’s the message ALA is seeking to silence. And I began saying that during this very OPPL matter.
Again, Bittman could care less about me but ALA seeks to silence me. In my opinion ALA is funding the lawsuit. Perhaps it advised Bittman to set up the GoFundMe hoax to give a means to allow others to help silence me and to give a false appearance of what’s really happening, after all, ALA acolytes are using my involvement in the case to fund raise for Bittman. In my opinion it is highly likely that Bittman is violating the terms of her GoFundMe account. I should investigate that.
All this is my opinion, of course.
SafeLibraries
Posted at 11:31h, 12 AprilMT @ECWDogs: Orland Park #Library’s Bridget Bittman begs @GoFundMe – Vacations in Florida – http://t.co/dgaSxYVG9u
@LibraryJournal #libchat
Mitch
Posted at 11:22h, 12 AprilShe is allowed to go to Florida. You are jealous.
jmkraft
Posted at 11:52h, 12 AprilYeah, that’s me, jealous of someone vacationing in Florida LOL…
No one said she wasn’t “allowed” to go to Florida, just that at the same time she is begging for money on gofundme, she apparently has the money to vacation in Florida during Spring Break…those that donated and are contemplating donating deserve to know.
SafeLibraries
Posted at 11:16h, 12 AprilRT @ECWDogs: Orland Park Library’s Bridget Bittman begs on GoFundMe – Vacations in Florida – http://t.co/rBGB6BQ1Qe
George Barraclough
Posted at 11:02h, 12 AprilThe Watchdogs would probably take a GoFundMe donation and spend it all on a Spring Break vacation on the beach over at one of those 42 Lake-Front lots, in high season, that
the Clark County Park District Board is trying to steal from the taxpayers, as referenced in their March 22, 2015 article!
sandy gray
Posted at 09:08h, 12 AprilThat takes a lot of balls given the fact that everyone knows her history with the BS going on at the OPPL. I’d be happy with half of the money she has caused the OPPL to spend on her frivious actions. Get a life board and start protecting the children and women who visit your library.
Mitch
Posted at 21:47h, 12 AprilDELETED by moderator – inaccurate info
ECWDogs
Posted at 08:46h, 12 AprilOrland Park Library’s Bridget Bittman begs on GoFundMe – Vacations in Florida – http://t.co/rBGB6BQ1Qe