Politics on the blogs

Then two days after he was elected Nov. 3, he began delivering his ideas to the community through the new messenger of his generation – a blog.

As the youngest commissioner ever elected in the city, at least the youngest in most residents’ memories, May would also introduce tweets, posts and friend requests to the city’s word-of-mouth and e-mail communication.

Now his Web site, HighSpringsBlog.com, has become a platform for discussion, updates – and yes – controversy.

A recent post where May criticized his colleagues’ opinions on the candidates for a vacant commission seat has raised questions on when city business is fair game for becoming a blog post.

In a March 11 post, May said Mayor William Coughlin and Commissioner Larry Travis’ logic in supporting candidate Jessica Hall for the diversity she would bring to an all-white, male commission was “unfortunate.”

“I really hope our Commission can move past these type of racist and genderist remarks and select the candidate who suits our city best,” he blogged.

Travis, who said he supported Hall because she was qualified and was also a black woman, took such offense to being associated with the word “racist” that he said he has hired a lawyer and is considering legal action.

“If [May] had said that to me instead of blogging it, I would have been able to ask him ‘First of all what do you think a racist is, and second of all what did I say that made you think that?’” Travis said Monday. “My main thing is I think diversity is important. We had a lady elected so we should fill the seat with a female, and if you happen to have a qualified Afro-American woman, that is a benefit.”

May responded by editing the original post to say the comments “could be easily construed as racist and genderist remarks” and wrote a four-page memo Friday to commissioners.

“As part of my plan to help close the gap between the elected officials and the people we work for, I have chosen various technology resources to communicate with the public,” he wrote in his memo. “I utilize tools such as email, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, mircoblogs, RSS feeds, texting, pingbacks, and trackbacks…There is a world of technology being used out there by public officials from the local to the federal level and everywhere in between.”

In fact most of Florida’s 26-member congressional delegation have Twitter and Facebook accounts, but only seven contribute to their pages with any kind of consistency.

As a more cyber-prone communicator, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., tweeted updates by the hour during Sunday’s health care vote in Congress. Hundreds of “friends” blew up the Facebook wall of Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Fla., with responses to his health care related posts on Sunday alone.

And to Gregg D. Thomas, a media and defamation attorney in Tampa, online discussion from politicians is a prime platform.

“The Supreme Court of the United States ruled the debate about political issues should be uninhibited and robust,” Thomas said Monday. “This is the sort of dialogue politicians should have. While name calling is not necessary, the debate about these issues is critical.”

Still, Travis said cyber politics hurts the personal intimacy voters have with their leaders.

“I don’t have a blog because my dealings with the public is face-to-face,” he said, though he does have a Facebook page for staying in touch with student athletes from his coaching days. “If you have a blog, or whatever you call those things, you sort of distance yourself from the people you’re representing.”

While May said his blogging of opinions is a way to inform and connect to the community, Travis sees it as a violation of laws that forbid politicians from communicating in private.

“I don’t think you should be able to talk about city business because you could use your blog to get around (Florida’s Government in the Sunshine Law) by saying ‘this is how I’m going to vote’ and another commissioner gets on and reads your blog. To me it would be a Sunshine violation.”

Though Travis said he is not keeping tabs on May’s blog, hundreds of other users are. Since he launched the blog in November, May said the site gets hundreds of hits per month. In a city of roughly 5,000 people, thousands have viewed the 48 posts May has written on meeting overviews, community events and responses to his critics.

But on the High Springs Commission at least, May could be the only cyber politician to voice his opinions on the Web. Neither Commissioner Dean Davis nor Coughlin keep blogs or Facebook accounts, and Travis said he wouldn’t turn to his Facebook to address the current debate of appointing a new commissioner.

“It’s a way to get to a lot of people,” Travis said. “Maybe that’s what it’s come to…but to hide behind a generation gap saying those kind of things, again I think is not good in local government. If you want to say it and you want to call someone a name, say it to their face.”