January 06, 2005

eGovernment ... Or 'Just Politics'?

GUEST: Jack O'Toole

In Kingston, NY, the chairman of the local Republican party is asking a question that we're bound to see raised with increasing frequency as the eGov revolution moves forward; namely, when is a government website (like Freud's famous cigar) just a government website -- and when is it, well, something else entirely?

City GOP Chairman Richard Cahill Jr. objects to a push by Mayor James Sottile's administration to place what he views as campaigning by city lawmakers on a taxpayer-funded Internet Web site.

But Sottile and others, including Alderman Bill Reynolds, D-Ward 7, said this week the information that is being requested from Common Council members, the majority of whom are Democrats, is only to be used to inform residents.

During Monday night's Democrat caucus, City Clerk Kathy Janeczek distributed a memo by City Planner Suzanne Cahill, who oversees City Hall's Web site, asking lawmakers for information and photographs. The planner also asked for personal statements, committees lawmakers serve on, and current projects they are involved in.

"I believe that this would be a good tool for you to provide your constituents with information on your activities and positions on current topics," Suzanne Cahill wrote. She is not related to Richard Cahill Jr. The memo was originally distributed in June 2004, but there was little response.

Richard Cahill said the push smacks of using the Web site for campaign purposes at taxpayers' expense. The city pays NetStep Access Service $1,500 a month as its Internet provider and to update the Web site on a monthly basis.

"When they want to take credit for all the things they have supposedly done and the projects they are working on, and the work they have done in the wards, this is campaigning and that should not be paid for by taxpayers," Richard Cahill said. "This is an attempt to protect incumbencies."

LINK: GOP head criticizes Web use

Posted by Jack O'Toole at January 6, 2005 08:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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