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Kirby Delauter Doesn’t Want News Outlets to Use His Name Without Permission

Frederick County Council member wants to approve uses of his name, which is Kirby Delauter.
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Kirby Delauter, in a screenshot from a video about Kirby Delauter.

Frederick County Council member Kirby Delauter threatened the Frederick News-Post with legal action if it contacted him or printed his name without his permission. “Use my name again unauthorized and you’ll be paying for an Attorney,” Delauter wrote in a Facebook tirade directed at News-Post reporter Bethany Rodgers. (Here’s a screenshot of the exchange.)

Rodgers apparently inconvenienced Kirby Delauter by reporting in a January 3 article that he “has joined [fellow Councilmember Billy] Shreve in concern over parking for elected officials.”

Shreve told the paper he hadn’t seen Kirby Delauter‘s post “but I think The News-Post is extremely biased and someone should sue them.” News-Post Managing Editor Terry Headlee told the paper Kirby Delauter‘s theory of press engagement “shows an astonishing lack of understanding of the role of a public servant.”

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Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. His book A Bigger Field Awaits Us: The Scottish Soccer Team That Fought the Great War was published in 2018. He lives in Del Ray.