posted by Christopher Swope
I've been trading e-mails with Bill Gentes, the "Blogging Mayor of Round Lake" in Illinois. Hizzoner has been keeping a blog for about two years. And unlike a few blogging pols we've speared here in the past, Gentes writes pretty much every day and fairly candidly at that.
I thought the mayor's reasons for blogging were pretty interesting. He says:
I know of a few mayors who blog regularly and by regularly I mean 3 times a week. I know of no one as crazy as me to do it every single day. The comments are hysterical, you have to live here to get some of it, but I allow uncensored comments so I get the negatives, positives and the inane!
It is the single smartest thing I have ever done as Mayor, it allows me to control the dialog, it gives me the ability to answer my 18,000 residents questions in depth and gives me a way of going over the top of every naysayer and right to the general public.
You should interview some of the residents of Round Lake to really understand this guy. He doesn't listen to constituents...beying meyor is all about "him" and not the people....he's a very poor leader.
The Blog thing is all about "him" and not being an effective administrator--simply stated: he doesn't care about the community. Just like this interview--anything that he can do to get his name in the paper or the internet, he will.
Ask him about why he wanted to build a huge powerplant in the middle of our nice little town.
Posted by: Round Lake | Friday, March 02, 2007 at 09:35 AM
If you want to learn more about our "blogging" mayor,check out this article: he lied to the editorial board here in Illinois this past fall.
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2008/oct/22/local/chi-senate-dist26-elect_22oct22
Posted by: Round Lake Resident | Tuesday, February 24, 2009 at 05:10 PM