i L i n d . n e t

A friend of mine, who is a sometimes lobbyist and well versed in the ways of politics, emailed me several days ago. Here’s part of his message:

If you are going to be back next session working for Lyla (Rep. Lyla Berg), you may want to be careful on how you talk about House members and the leadership. What you say on your site is attributed back to the dissident group and Lyla, though I know that is not your intent. Paranoia is a fact of life in the political arena.

I’ve wondered how to react to this not-too-veiled warning. Blogging while on a legislator’s staff can obviously be a bit of a sticky wicket, but I was blogging before I joined Rep. Berg’s session staff and have continued to do so during the past two legislative sessions. Let me be quite clear. I’m not a politician and don’t have the same sensitivities and sensibilities of my friends on the inside of the electoral machinery. While I respect their positions and the compromises they make daily, I don’t have the same constraints. Blogging is my own personal activity.  It isn’t that I avoid politics, it’s simply that this blog isn’t sculpted to make a particular political point or stick to a certain political line. So far it hasn’t become an issue for Rep. Berg, who I think only occasionally reads these daily missives, usually when someone else points her in this direction. From time to time someone will explain the dynamics of a situation but ask me not to blog about it, and I respect such requests.

I perhaps should explain what I do at the capitol. I help out when Rep. Berg is drafting bills and resolutions, but most of my time is spent digesting and summarizing bills referred to the committees Rep. Berg sits on so that she can participate more effectively in the committee’s deliberations. I try to add the political context to aid in understanding the bills’ impacts, I try to do quick checks for related news stories and other background, and suggest issues and problems to consider. I also handle constituent complaints and try to leverage the influence of her office to address their specific district problems, often involving issues with state and city agencies. And I try to keep an eye out for potholes in the legislative highway, offering advice or serving as a sounding board when asked.

Generally, I don’t offer opinions unless asked. After all, it is her opinions that count. She is the one who has put herself on the line and run successfully for office. My role is to help her to be more effective in getting her opinions across to others.

Rep. Berg maintains a surprisingly effective division between legislative and electoral activities, to the extent that during the first session I was in her office, she had a fundraiser that I never even heard about because that’s not my role. Similarly, she tries to keep the internal politics somewhat separate from the legislative work of the office. As a result, I’m not privy to her views on all the ins and outs of the factional politics within the House. If someone’s reading this blog and thinking they’ve got the inside scoop on the House dissidents, they should think again.
I do try to keep things separate while blogging by distinguishing properly “confidential” information from the routine capitol gossip that flows relatively freely through the hallways and is generally known to anyone who is around a lot, whether staff, lobbyists, or citizen activists. The latter is fair game for blogging and I seek it out, while I avoid blogging about the former. Beyond that, I typically don’t edit myself based on an assessment of possible political fallout.
If others think there are certain issues or situations I should avoid blogging about for political reasons, feel free to contact me any time. I’ll tell my friend the same thing.