FMR. MYTLE BEACH MAYOR IDENTIFIED AS ANONYMOUS COMMENTER IN LIBEL SUIT

Less than a month ago, former Myrtle Beach Mayor Mark McBride lost his battle to oust the man who defeated him in 2005. And now he’s suffered another defeat in his attempt to wage an anonymous attack against the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.

Ward Shepherd, a former board member the Grand Strand Chamber of Commerce, outed McBride on Sunday as the man who has been commenting under the name “Elmer Fudd” on the Myrtle Breach Sun Times website.

Elmer Fudd is being sued by the Myrtle Beach Chamber for allegedly posting false and defamatory information. The chamber has been seeking the commenter’s true identity in a “John Doe” libel lawsuit.

“He told me he was Elmer Fudd,” said Shepherd. “I said ‘Oh my God.’ … I told him to come forward. He had the opportunity to do the right thing.”

Shepherd said he sent a statement to the chamber’s legal team identifying McBride as Elmer Fudd, but he did not have any computer records or e-mails to back up the claim.

The chamber has subpoenaed the Sun News for any and all information on the commenter and Shepherd said that he too was trying to abide by the law.

McBride lost the Myrtle Beach mayoral race on Nov. 17 to John Rhodes, earning only 45 percent of the vote. He picked up a whopping 2 percent of the vote in the 2004 Republican Senatorial primary against Jim DeMint, David Beasley, Thomas Ravenel, and Charlie Condon.

It was during that campaign that he earned his “Bobblehead” title by creating a website that portrayed DeMint, Beasley, Ravenel, and Condon as bobblehead dolls.

Photo: Myrtle Beach Sun News