In Oregon, Bloggers are Crashing the Gates
The Oregonian's Jeff Mapes has a well-written and lengthy article about the Oregon political blogosphere today. Naturally, BlueOregon is prominently featured - as are Loaded Orygun, Jack Bog's Blog, and right-wing blogs Oregon Catalyst and NW Republican.
The piece is headlined "Bloggers finally crash the gates of Oregon politics" - and makes the case:
BlueOregon is "definitely the activists' and insiders' water cooler," Chisholm says. "We're the agenda setter for the agenda setters." That might be a bit of sales hype. But it's easy to find political consultants, journalists, campaign aides and lobbyists who check BlueOregon along with their e-mail each morning. ...Bloggers also are making waves in conservative circles. Ted Piccolo, the main force behind the NW Republican blog, helped assemble a network of more than two dozen bloggers supporting state Sen. Jason Atkinson, R-Central Point, in his race for governor.
Atkinson finished third in the Republican primary, but many say he would not have reached even his 22 percent of the vote without the ardent support from the blogosphere.
"The blogs created Atkinson and made him look far more significant than he was," says Rob Kremer, a local school-choice activist, talk-show host and occasional blogger. ...
Local political consultants acknowledge that most voters don't pay attention to the bloggers. After all, even popular blogs get only a few thousand visitors a day. But they say blogs help shape the debate and motivate activists.
For example, Jon Isaacs, executive director of Future PAC, the political arm of the House Democratic Caucus, says blogs generated many volunteers for Democrat Rob Brading's challenge to House Speaker Karen Minnis, R-Wood Village.
There's also quite a bit of discussion of the various relationships between blogs and campaigns, especially focused on BlueOregon and co-founder Kari Chisholm's political consulting firm, Mandate Media:
Chisholm cheerfully admits to a welter of conflicts that would send conventional journalists to the unemployment line."I'm not a journalist, I'm an activist," says Chisholm. "I don't pretend to have a neutral point of view."
He says he makes it clear when he's commenting on a client. But readers might not be aware of all the ties: The site frequently promotes legislative candidates backed by the House Democratic Caucus. And BlueOregon often links to Saxtonwatch.com, a blog owned by the Oregon Democratic Party that depends heavily on material from the Kulongoski campaign. Both are Chisholm clients, and he designed the Saxtonwatch Web site.
Still, Chisholm says he's protective of BlueOregon and is not afraid to irritate clients. Asked what he'd do with a piece praising Saxton from a Democratic perspective, Chisholm sounds like a traditional media mogul.
"I'd probably post it," he says. "Our traffic would explode. I'd love to see that debate."
Meanwhile, Jason Williams, executive director of the Taxpayers Association of Oregon, runs the Oregon Catalyst blog. Not surprisingly, he promotes Measure 48, the proposed spending limit backed by the association. But he also struggles over censoring himself to avoid offending potential political allies.
"I get along with a lot of people because I've learned to shut my mouth," he says. "There are enough people airing their dirty laundry. . . . It's tempting to get in there and . . ."
Williams pauses, then adds: "That's where some of the other blogs just let it go."
There's a lot more, so read the rest. Then, discuss.
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Sept. 17, 2006
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Sep 17, '06
HI all you lefties.LOL Please, I'm only jibing you. All in all I thought the article was fair. One thing Jeff alluded to was that a RW blogger would be blocked...I have never seen a blogger blocked in either Blue Oregon nor in Loaded Orygun. I have had disagreements and I'm still here...hopefully LOL I think Political Blogging is in its' infancy and like radio in the 20's it will become very significant and with all the pains coming in the future. Right now I'm very happy to have this outlet and I with Kari and Carla and Torrid my best wishes. I hope I haven't left anyone out...Randy, still working on that left-of-Moscow guy. LOL
Sep 17, '06
KISS -- We have blocked a few people. But it's not about ideology. It's about whether they're being jerks. Probably 2/3 of the dozen blocked folks are righties, but 1/3 are lefties.
10:44 a.m.
Sep 17, '06
TJ and I have never really discussed it at length, but its not our policy to ban commentors from Loaded Orygun. I don't think we've banned anyone yet, that I recall.
Do we get jerks commenting sometimes? Sure. We get off-topic sometimes too. To me, those off topic, organic conversations sometimes turn into something with a lot of meaning and should be left alone.
The only time I would consider banning someone is for spam or for constant and consistent vicious personal attacks against ourselves or other commentors. And even then it would take some doing.
12:29 p.m.
Sep 17, '06
Despite the fact Jesse and I weren't mentioned in the article (no sour grapes THERE), it was a pretty good article. The MSM reliably does a poor job reporting on blogs, but I give this high marks for capturing what is important about blogs and why they have themselves become important. Plus, anytime you lay out the paper and see Kari Chisholm, it's a pretty cool thing.
Sep 17, '06
One thing Jeff alluded to was that a RW blogger would be blocked...I have never seen a blogger blocked in either Blue Oregon nor in Loaded Orygun.
I thought the whole Bogdanski-Bunster spat was over whether Mark Bunster was accessing Loaded Orygun and posting elsewhere from his city-owned pc while on the public dole. I don't recall how that episode ended, or if the city ever pulled and examined Bunster's internet history from his Fire Bureau pc.
But that raises an interesting question. It seems almost every election cycle there are reports or allegations of public employees using public resources unlawfully to support or oppose a candidate or measure. Those episodes normally involve using the photocopier, telephones, or staff time to basically work on campaigns, which of course is illegal.
If a public employee, not necessarily working on behalf of any particular candidate or official, uses public resources (including payroll) to author, edit or otherwise publish blog messages that support or oppose a candidate or measure while on the job during working hours, is that an election law violation? If so, is the violator the employee or the employer?
Another interesting question for Jeff Mapes to pursue.
8:31 p.m.
Sep 17, '06
thought the whole Bogdanski-Bunster spat was over whether Mark Bunster was accessing Loaded Orygun and posting elsewhere from his city-owned pc while on the public dole.
Nope. It was about Bogdanski being too thin skinned to handle dissenting opinions in comments. He used Mark's job to try to make excuses for what he was doing. But the whole thing boils down to Jack having an inability to deal with articulate opinions that don't match his own. That's why he went after Mark.
Bogdanski has banned me as well for leaving comments that oppose his POV. That's his MO.
Most likely he'd out me too, if he could. It would have absolutely nothing to do with my vocation or where I compose my pieces on Loaded Orygun.
8:41 p.m.
Sep 17, '06
"posting elsewhere from his city-owned pc while on the public dole."
WTF? I'm not on any dole. Your bias is showing.
9:31 p.m.
Sep 17, '06
Plus, anytime you lay out the paper and see Kari Chisholm, it's a pretty cool thing.
Yeah, I'm a sexy guy. Especially in a bikini.
9:32 p.m.
Sep 17, '06
Maybe that'll sell some papers.
9:37 p.m.
Sep 17, '06
Did the article say that BO sometimes banned RWers? Perhaps I missed that.
If so then he missed that. I have found most bloggers pretty open. I think I have dismissed maybe four comments in the last year. For me it comes down to whether someone is vulgar or getting personal while at the same time remaining anonymous. Mostly decorum type issues.
Oh and if whether or not I know they are doing it on THE PUBLIC DOLE...
LOL... just kidding.
9:37 p.m.
Sep 17, '06
Did the article say that BO sometimes banned RWers? Perhaps I missed that.
If so then he missed that. I have found most bloggers pretty open. I think I have dismissed maybe four comments in the last year. For me it comes down to whether someone is vulgar or getting personal while at the same time remaining anonymous. Mostly decorum type issues.
Oh and if whether or not I know they are doing it on THE PUBLIC DOLE...
LOL... just kidding.
Sep 17, '06
WTF? I'm not on any dole. Your bias is showing.
Mark:
I confess my bias for antiquated terms is showing. You're right, the term "dole" historically means charity, whether from private or government sources. I didn't mean to imply your City paycheck amounts to public charity.
But my question remains unanswered. If a public employee blogs on the job, and the content of those posts amount to supporting or opposing a candidate or measure, is the public employee and/or their public employer violating Oregon election laws? This is one area where the content of one's "speech" really does matter.
A city commissioner's staffer cannot use their city pc to draft a document that supports or opposes a candidate or measure. Does that same law apply to other public employees who may not be part of an elected officials staff?
I'm not suggesting you are doing or have done that. For one thing, it would be pretty stupid, considering your publicly-owned pc's internet usage is a disclosable public record to anyone who asks to see it. And of course, the Fire Bureau has an obligation to archive those records.
This issue will continue to percolate as blogs become more influential as the Mapes article suggests. I just don't think anyone is paying much attention to public employees blogging away at work, if they're doing it at all.
Sep 18, '06
As we work toward a positive impact for Oregon and Northwest Democrats, let's make use of some recent history as it is posted on the GOPBias.com blog.
Sep 18, '06
So, does this mean you'll stop pissing and whining for the Oregonian to apologize for your biased reading into that rural voter story?
Sep 18, '06
Wes replies to Mark: "But my question remains unanswered. If a public employee blogs on the job, and the content of those posts amount to supporting or opposing a candidate or measure, is the public employee and/or their public employer violating Oregon election laws?"
The more relevant question is: Why is such a time wasting goof-off like Mark still employed?
And if his supervisor is so bad at managing a goof-off employee like Mark, then why is that manager still employed? (any serious manager could easily track how much time Mark spends on non-job-related posting, and see that it is not only done on break time.)
People like Mark give public employees a bad name.
1:34 p.m.
Sep 18, '06
Larry, how is it that you have divined when it is I take breaks, or go to lunch, or do wacky things like stay at home with my kids for parts of a workday? As one example, I could probably count on two hands the number of times I've taken a lunch beginning at noon--and I've probably taken 10X that many beginning after 2pm. I've also taken them after 3pm. By God, sometimes the schedule has even demanded that I start lunch at 11:30AM or earlier--last week I began it once at 11AM!
So here it is 1:30pm. Am I: a) already back from lunch? b) not yet at lunch? c) 5 minutes into lunch?
If you picked c), you'd be a good guesser--and 5 minutes from now, you can find me picking up food at Ankeny's Well, or Ash Street, or maybe just Quiznos. But you'd just be guessing, wouldn't you?
That's worth repeating: You'd just be guessing, wouldn't you?
You might consider that next time you level charges based on preconceived notions...
3:04 p.m.
Sep 18, '06
Frankly, I didn't think the article really conveyed what Blue Oregon is all about. It ties a community together. I have gotten to know people here that I meet in real life elsewhere. Jeff wrote the story as someone who is on the outside looking in. The view is a little different on this side of the computer screen.
It also gets stories out that would not be heard. Just because the Oregonian doesn't always print it doesn't mean that other media outlets don't pick up stories. The combination of Blue Oregon and Thom Hartmann mean that a lot of people now learn of news that didn't make the Lars Larsen-Oregonian beat. And sometimes it gets to all the outlets and started here on Blue Oregon.