Some politicians have trouble adapting to the Web

Published 10:46 am Monday, March 30, 2009

OLYMPIA — They may know the intricacies of operating budgets, public policy and campaigning, but some public officials are learning something already familiar to teenagers in the digital age: What you do on the Internet can come back to haunt you.

Since former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential bid, the Web has been touted for its ability to connect politicians and officials with supporters, policy wonks and constituents.

But just as the Internet can be an organizing tool, so too can it preserve and deliver embarrassing, careless and less-than-diplomatic moments. This year’s Washington Legislature already has served up a few prime examples.

Take Rich Nafziger, the chief of staff for the majority Democrats in the state Senate. Until recently he published Nafzblog, a blog about public policy and economics in Washington. But then he bestowed a “Herbert Hoover Award” on Gov. Chris Gregoire, likening a fellow Democrat to the Republican most associated with the Great Depression. Oh, and he referred to her no-new-taxes budget proposal as “moronomics.”

Nafzblog is no more.

“The good thing about a blog is it’s a diary, you can get out there and say what you think,” Nafziger said. “Sometimes you get carried away, and I definitely said things that made my job harder.”

Two state senators have run into similar problems.

The Legislative Ethics Board is investigating Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, in its first blog-related ethics violation claim. Roach is under scrutiny for her writings and involvement in a dispute between Child Protective Services and an Enumclaw family, a saga she chronicles on her blog, The Pam Roach Report.

The free spirit of Internet discourse can create headaches in the political world, but the candidness of cyberspeech may be good for the political process, experts say.

“Lies, smears, and mistakes get tagged faster and probably more accurately than they did under the old system of elite gatekeeping,” said Michael Cornfield, a consultant and political science professor at George Washington University. “The remarks that last are the ones tied to deeds, which is as it should be. Everything else flows under the bridge and into Google.”

Until recently politicians communicated with the public through more controlled means. Newsletters to constituents were closely scrutinized by advisers before going to print. Now every Democrat in the Senate has an official blog. Minority Republicans don’t have official blogs; they Twitter and sometimes use podcasts.

But keeping a consistent and disciplined message when each lawmaker has their own personal platform has its challenges.

“It’s like pushing the send button on an e-mail too fast — you learn,” said Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Kent.

Keiser recently ruffled feathers with a blog post referring to the Building Industry of Washington, a longtime foe of many Democrats, as “nasty, bullying and partisan.”

The BIAW runs a workers compensation insurance pool for its members, and has used millions of dollars in rebates from the state to pay for attack ads in political campaigns.

On her blog, Keiser wrote that she was outraged by this practice, remarks that later came back to bite her during debate on a bill to force disclosure about how such insurance rebates are spent.

When Democrats claimed the BIAW wasn’t the target of the bill, Republicans used Keiser’s blog post for rebuttal.

And after a heated debate on the measure, Jeff Reading, communications director for Senate Democrats, edited Keiser’s blog to remove some of the remarks. Reading said the excised material may have violated Senate rules and state ethics laws.

(Keiser stood by her original posting and said she was disgusted by the revision.)

“It’s supposed to be your authentic voice,” Keiser said. “But if it’s supposed to be the approved, the agreed upon, the message of the day kind of communication — that’s something else entirely.”

Even the somewhat protected space of social networking sites like Facebook can air dissent from members of a political group.

Don Barbieri, chairman of Red Lion Hotels Corp. and a prominent donor to Democrats, recently criticized Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown on her Facebook page. Barbieri wrote that Brown “gutted” I-937, a clean energy initiative passed by voters in 2006, referring to her support for a bill that would dilute the initiative’s mandates.

But despite the criticisms and the gaffes, lawmakers have a growing need to reach out to the public as the ranks of traditional reporters dwindle, said Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle.

Still, Murray says he’s not completely sold on the unfiltered communication because it tends to commit politicians to specific courses of action on issues that still may be under negotiation.

“There’s a lack of sensitivity to how quickly what we do on a blog site ends up as information across the entire planet,” he said. “It goes against my mother’s saying of ‘never put it in writing.’”

The trials and scrapes of some lawmakers are perplexing to some of the younger members of the Legislature.

“I think about the political ramifications,” said Rep. Dave Upthegrove, D-Des Moines. “I wouldn’t criticize the Speaker of the House in a caucus meeting and I wouldn’t criticize him on my blog.”

Rep. Marko Liias, D-Mukilteo, who at age 27 is the youngest member of the Legislature, said lawmakers who haven’t kept up with changing technology — some still don’t use computers — will naturally have more difficulty adapting.

“Sometimes it’s trying to teach an old dog new tricks,” he said.