San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly has
a blog. While most elected officials are loath to blog, lest they provide oppo material for their opponents in the next election, it would be great if more politicians would blog while
governing.
Well, the SF Chronicle has a problem with it, writing a story with multiple references to Daly's blogging on the "city's dime". In fact, the piece's first headline (since toned down) was "Public picks up tab for Daly blog - District 6 supervisor first official to keep diary on city's dime".
Now, Daly has a running fued with the Chronicle. And Daly is using his blog to bash it.
But there is a deeper significance to Daly's blogging -- he's using the technology to get around the media filter to communicate directly with his constituents. No need to call a press conference, hope reporters show up, hope they write the story, and hope they don't editorialize or lose your original point in a quest for "balance".
If politicians no longer need the local rags and pathetic local stations to get the word out to their constituents, it changes the balance of power significantly. Hence, you have the Chronicle wailing about blogging on the city's "dime" rather than celebrating the efforts of an elected official to open up a direct line to his constituents.
My advice to Daly -- get off the city's servers. At your level of traffic, it won't cost you much and it will spare you lots of headaches down the road. Oh, and add comments to your blog. Only right-wingers are afraid of adding comments to their blogs.