A Favour To Ask

A comment  named a town official. I would rather that not happen..I did it at the beginning  I was asked not to and  I agreed with the point made.

Google picks up every name. Politicians are in the public eye by choice.

Staff are not They generally do not aim to be in the public eye. They aim to make a living and enjoy   privacy as any other employee. The public sector is not quite like the private.

It's often difficult to discern responsibility for decisions between politicians and appointed officials.

When a staff person steps over the line into the political arena, privacy can no longer be guaranteed.

Experienced appointed officials pays particular attention to the line that separates.

The Chief Financial Officer made the mistake when he accused me of impugning his integrity. The record showed I did no such thing. He never withdrew the accusation.

The CAO did it when he sent a comment to the Aurora Citizen demanding a particular comment be removed and within a time limit.

A blog is the political arena. The CAO should not have done that no matter who was giving the order.

Canadian jurisprudence to date indicates anonymous comments on blogs are within the law. No person has a right to tell another, criticism of a politician is not permitted.

The Internet is still relatively new in my life. I am still a little unbelieving of its freedom.

When staff indicate a preference for not being identified by name in the blog I found that reasonable and stopped.

I am conscious of; the advantage  of being a participant with opportunity to relay town hall business to people whose business it is.

Neither appointed nor elected officials own the town hall.

The idea enrages some. Those accustomed to old way getting away with things because of limits to publicattention.

The internet has changed that. It doesn't mean there should be no discipline.

That's the challenge I work on as I go.

Charter Rights are being tested in the courts. I attend to decisions reported Freedom is secure.

But it's new and it can change.

In the meantime, I make the judement between what is fair. And what is not.

And how best to serve.

For a politician, it has always been about dealing with whatever comes.

That will never change.