(19:58:36) dad: anyway... I had wanted to publish an article in the local paper, on our one year anniversary, just to let people know how things are going, the other Councillors flipped out! so I didnt publish it,
(19:59:24) dad:  I feel ..... sometihng? for not publishing it, however I do need to work with these people , a dilema
(19:59:46) dad: what do you think?
(19:59:58) dad:  from a political point of veiw?
(20:00:09) wlonkly: Right, I see. For what it's worth, when I read it, the first position I saw was that of the other councillors -- that it would seem a little unusual for one councillor to buy ad space to speak for... well, for himself, or for city hall? It's not really clear.
(20:00:27) wlonkly: I mean, you see ads like that from MPPs and MPs all the time, but the important difference there is that they have a riding.
(20:00:34) dad: thats what they felt.... 
(20:00:54) dad: I saw it as letting people know hwat has been accomplished...
(20:00:57) wlonkly: And where an MP with a riding specifically represents that riding -- and limits the ads to that riding -- city council works more as a team on the whole city.
(20:01:05) wlonkly: (Even if they don't actually do that in practice, that's the idea.)
(20:01:22) wlonkly: It would be weird if the MP for Hastings were to take out a national ad in the Globe and Mail, for instance.
(20:01:38) dad: it really doesnt work in practice, so you think I was correct in not publishing it?
(20:01:45) wlonkly: Or it would have been weird if I'd written something for the Ottawa Business Journal about how Mitel was doing, when I was still there.
(20:01:48) wlonkly: I think so, yeah.
(20:02:13) dad:  I dint , but I have had second thoughts, as Taso says F#$% them all
(20:02:13) wlonkly: I think it's important to present the council as a unified body to the rest of the city.
(20:02:20) dad: why?
(20:02:46) wlonkly: Because that's how the institution is meant to work.
(20:03:11) dad:  ya, but,... what is wrong with stepping outside, that box ?
(20:03:23) dad: :|
(20:03:26) wlonkly: Disagreement amongst councillors happens /at/ council, and not in the paper. And that's not to say that the article is about disagreeing with councillors, but that's the message that it will send.
(20:03:46) dad:  I know... but......
(20:03:56) dad:  it was a good article!
(20:04:17) wlonkly: Because the institution is supposed to speak with a single voice, because you share representation, doing otherwise will look like dissent. Which is even stranger when the article isn't really dissenting.
(20:04:50) wlonkly: I agree that it's a good article! But it sounds like a good thing for the City to say through its channels, rather than just you.
(20:05:18) wlonkly: (Also, there's something unusual about running what is essentially an op-ed as an ad.)
(20:05:29) dad:  you know....... I know what you say makes sense, but, I really fel t right on the issue nad now am pouting!
(20:05:33) wlonkly: It's all unusual enough to send the message that something is wrong here.
(20:05:43) wlonkly: Well, you might be right on the issues /in/ the ad!
(20:06:09) wlonkly: But maybe there's a way for councillors to release things to the press under their own name through the usual channels, if you can't get the entire council to sign off on it?
(20:06:39) dad: anyway I didnt publish it...  but boy, I had mixed emotions on it!
(20:06:52) dad: like what?
(20:06:55) wlonkly: Keep the medium and the message separate and I bet you'll find that the councillors mostly objected to the medium. 
(20:07:12) wlonkly: I don't know, because I'm not on a city council. But you see actual news articles and editorials full of quotes from individual city councillors in the paper here all the time.
(20:07:13) dad: they felt I was campaigning
(20:07:20) wlonkly: I can see that. I think that's the medium.
(20:07:44) wlonkly: An ad from an individual councillor /does/ look like campaigning. A press release on City letterhead that happens to be written by an individual councillor doesn't. 
(20:07:55) dad: well i do have my blog..... Also I'm going to go door to door after the provincial election.....
(20:07:59) wlonkly: It sort of comes across that you're taking credit for the stuff in the article, since it's all in your name, you know what I mean?
(20:08:17) wlonkly: And if the City speaks with its voice, then it sounds like the City gets to take credit for it, which is what is supposed to happen on a city council.
(20:08:27) dad:  but I do you "we" as much as I can ,without speaking for any other Councillor
(20:08:33) wlonkly: And yes, you do have your blog. :)