"Happy Birthday to the blog": WGVA's Ted Baker Hosts Party for Bloggers

Capraro and Augustine did their monthly radio show with Ted Baker, 1240 WGVA, on Friday, March 21. (Click here to listen to the entire show.) Their on-air appearance featured a lively discussion with Baker on the state of open government in Geneva and the impact of NoStringsGeneva on the local political culture since it was launched one year ago.

The two bloggers observed that with blogs so much a part of the emerging political culture, they were surprised other blogs have not appeared. After all, there’s no shortage of material to write about and research as they “watch the river of local government and politics flow.”

The one year anniversary of the blog coincided with National Sunshine Week, a celebration and awareness week focused on open meetings laws and procedures for obtaining government records through Freedom of Information Laws (FOIL) requests.

In response to Baker’s question about why most governments seem to prefer operating behind closed doors, Capraro and Augustine listed the following reasons: concerns about appearances, maintaining power, pragmatism, and cynicism. In short, for some, it’s easier not to have the press and public looking over their shoulder or involved in the process. Unfortunately, that makes people suspicious of the process itself.

Baker noted a slight upbeat in the blog, with some complimentary posts even as the blog has maintained it critical approach in its fact based point of view on Geneva. Capraro and Augustine acknowledged some improvement in the handling of executive sessions and suggested the blog had impacted local media by making them more accountable to the people and, in turn, the local media more vigilant of government.

Closing with a quick review of the Seneca County ethanol plant post, Capraro and Augustine highlighted the role Geneva citizen and Lake Party member Ken Camera played in bringing the issue to the attention of the Geneva City Council and helping to frame it as, in part, a Geneva concern.

You can listen to this radio appearance and others, by visiting the NoStringsGeneva Radio Archive.