Caught in the ‘net - Gov
candidate’s daughter posted boozy photo online By Kimberly
Atkins Boston Herald Reporter
Friday, August 18, 2006 - Updated: 02:24 PM EST
Gubernatorial
candidate Christy Mihos’ campaign is experiencing a political hiccup
after family photos posted on his 25-year-old daughter Ashley’s
Facebook.com Web page - one featuring a boozy family celebration -
began making the e-mail rounds.
This
photo of, from left, Ashley Mihos, mom Andrea, brother
Christy IV and an unidentified person raising shot
glasses in a toast was posted on Ashley's Facebook.com
Web page. On the kitchen table is a copy of the Herald,
which featured a story on Ashley's dad - gubernatorial
candidate Christy Mihos - slamming Big Dig
officials. » View
the photo
This photo of, from
left, Ashley Mihos, mom Andrea, brother Christy IV
and an unidentified person raising shot glasses in
a toast was posted on Ashley's Facebook.com Web
page. On the kitchen table is a copy of the
Herald, which featured a story on Ashley's dad -
gubernatorial candidate Christy Mihos - slamming
Big Dig
officials.
One
photo, obtained by the Herald, shows Ashley, her brother, Christy
IV, and her mother, Andrea Mihos, toasting with shot glasses with a
fourth, unidentified reveler over the kitchen counter of their Cape
Cod home. On the counter sits four Sam Adams beer bottles and a copy
of the Boston Herald with a headline about the investigation
surrounding the tragic Big
Dig tunnel collapse.
Inside
that edition, Mihos was prominently featured questioning why cameras
in the I-90 connector tunnel did not capture the events leading up
the tunnel failure that killed a Jamaica Plain woman.
But a
spokesman for Mihos said that the group was not celebrating Mihos’
high-profile newspaper appearance - it was a fete for younger
Christy’s 21st birthday last month.
“It was
a toast for (his) birthday,” said Mihos spokeswoman Nicole Nionakis.
“Anything regarding the paper was purely coincidental.”
Ashley
has since taken the photos off of her Web page, but not before keen
observers downloaded copies and sent them around cyberspace.
“Christy was unaware of the photo being posted and did not request
that (Ashley) take it down,” Nionakis said.
But
experts in online politics said telling family members to keep
private information, well, private, is a must for any wannabe
politico.
“I
think every politician and everyone related to them should put a
little note next to the ‘enter’ button of their computer that says:
‘How will this look on the front page of the paper?’ ” said Phil
Noble, founder of PoliticsOnline.com, a Web site examining politics
and the Internet.
This
isn’t the first embarrassing political episode involving personal
Web pages. In June, a Missouri Democratic Party worker had to resign
after posting pictures of a bikini-clad young statehouse aide on his
MySpace.com page - a move quickly lampooned by GOP consultant Jeff
Roe on his conservative blog “The Source.”
Roe
said the Internet is the first place he goes to dig for dirt.
“Candidates, and children of candidates - their Facebook and MySpace
pages are the first thing we check,” Roe said. “It falls right in
there with tax and voting records.”
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