IS IT TRUE? September 30, 2011 “Press Releases: Is it Sloppiness or Banana Republic Tactics?”

IS IT TRUE? September 30, 2011 Part 2

IS IT TRUE that people seem to be confusing the position of the City County Observer with respect to Mayoral press releases posted on the City of Evansville’s website?…that we never claimed that the Mayor or anyone else removed any press release?…that we clearly have stated that all of the press releases from the Office of the Mayor and in particular two press releases about the Homestead Tax Credit ARE NOT ON THE CITY OF EVANSVILLE WEBSITE?…that our desire is for the City of Evansville to maintain an up to date and easy to use website that contains current and archival access to ALL press releases?…that we trust and expect that all press releases issued by the Mayor of Evansville or any other City of Evansville department are crafted and released for the purpose of informing the people of Evansville with information deemed worthy by our leaders to be released for wide distribution through the media?

IS IT TRUE that posting ALL press releases, notices of public meetings, agendas for meetings, and other important public domain documents is pretty much a basic requirement to be considered a modern city?…that the City of Evansville by either sloppiness or selective posting is not fulfilling this requirement?…that if this was entirely a result of sloppiness and inattention to detail that this needs to be corrected and retroactively implemented back to when the posting started?…that running a sloppy operation within local government makes us look like Mayberry RFD to potential businesses?…that if this was sloppiness then fix it and move on?

IS IT TRUE that if the missing press releases are missing from the City of Evansville website as a result of selective posting then we are dealing with a different situation altogether?…intentionally filtering public press releases for a public website that has the look and feel of a comprehensive archive is not acceptable for the Office of the Mayor of Evansville?…that intentionally keeping a press release off has the exact same effect for a public archive as posting it and then removing it later?…that this is absolute censorship and should not ever be tolerated or condoned?…that looking the other way or doing business by the nod and wink with respect to public information is the domain of the propaganda machines of Banana Republics and Totalitarian states?…that we could give examples of the names of people who have done such things but we choose not to?

IS IT TRUE that the obligation and the responsibility to inform the public is one of the most important functions of government?…that we expect that all elected leaders will take this seriously and will be cognizant of what is released to the press?…that sometimes a little fluff is okay but that important issues NEED to be addressed in the public forum by our elected officials?…that all that we want to see from Mayor Weinzapfel or any future Mayor of Evansville is a full and accurate public archive of all press releases whether the news reflects well or not so well on the person who releases it?…that to do less reflects well on all of us?…that this latest episode from one perspective looks like filtering, suppression, and censorship?…that from another perspective it just looks like sloppiness?…the either way this needs to stop and that in order to demonstrate a commitment to openness and transparency that Mayor Weinzapfel assure that all of his press releases are online and in the archive in chronological order before he leaves office?…that if he does not do this that his successor should?…that we as citizens of Evansville have looked sloppy and/or like a Banana Republic long enough?