Politicians find chat rooms a two-edged sword

Monday, September 27, 2004

BY MIKE FRASSINELLI
Star-Ledger Staff

If the Internet chat room is the watercooler of the 21st century, some New Jersey elected officials are busy filling up their paper cones.

Aside from the tried and true ways of communicating at ribbon cuttings and rubber-chicken dinners, mayors and other town officials are increasingly turning to chat rooms to connect with constituents, explain decisions and get feedback.

"No elected official at any level of government deals directly with the public more often than the mayor," said William Pikolycky, mayor of Woodbine Borough in Cape May County and president of the New Jersey Conference of Mayors. "And, as we're seeing with the mayors who are using chat rooms on the Internet, it's not a responsibility we run from, but rather, one we embrace."

"Bobbo78," also known as Harry Zikas Jr., the mayor of Alpha in Warren County, can be found on the NJ.com forums, responding to such questions as whether a councilman illegally used his influence to build a curb, what the requirements are for building an in-ground pool, how to help a family whose young children died in a fire, and occasionally, getting testy over criticisms directed at him.

The lawmaker with a laptop was New Jersey's youngest mayor when elected nearly five years ago at age 21, and has incorporated the computer savvy of a 20-something into his public servant job.

"I just absolutely hate rumors," said Zikas, who also has his own Web site. "So whenever I see something that's not true, I want to set the record straight."

Zikas is mostly well-received on NJ.com's Alpha forum. His posts are mostly informational. He said he doesn't know the identity of 90 percent of the people in the forum.

Here's an example of an annoyed Bobbo78 -- a derivation of Zikas' family nickname and the year of his birth -- responding to a heckler:

ynotu: Anyone know what happened with the electric in the middle of the night?

Squirrelbait: Yeah ... it went out. Glad to help!

razmothegr8: Harry was trying ... to save a few more bucks for the town. Whatta guy!

Bobbo78: Nice Comment ... No, I have no idea what caused the minor outage last night. Thanks for the comment razmothegr8, but maybe you should follow your motto. -Harry Zikas, Jr.

When he told razmothegr8 to "follow your motto," Zikas said it was a reference to a section on razmothegr8's profile that criticized people who posted anonymously.

BASH AWAY

The rancor in the Mount Olive forum prompted township councilwoman Colleen LaBow to quit posting.

Here was what the downloading Democrat thought would be her last post:

ColleenLaBow: This forum is completely a lose lose situation for anyone who is trying to post positive information and for anyone who tries to point out another side to any situation. You get bashed, criticized, yadda yadda yadda ... A good friend of mine mentioned that this site had become CharlieU, pstef's and poppyd's sand box and by posting anything on here I just provide the sand for them to play with. With that said, I think my sand can be used for better purposes elsewhere ... Have fun all ... bash away.

Her threat lasted all of two days.

LaBow was bothered by anonymous potshots and a negative tone, but couldn't stand sitting by idly when residents had questions.

"The shame in it is that people can go on there, say anything they want to say and not be held accountable; they can just change their screen name," LaBow said. "You can go in these chat rooms and say the most God-awful things that you would never say face-to-face."

LaBow enjoys the immediacy and accessibility of the Web chat. She used to get up early and go to bed late to see what others were writing.

"It's an addiction," said with a laugh.

Like Zikas, LaBow's most provocative responses have never seen the light of the computer screen. Her 23-year-old son, Jeremy, grounded LaBow before she wrote responses she would regret.

"In politics, you have to have a thick skin," the 47-year-old councilwoman and Morris County freeholder candidate said.

"A POSITIVE MANNER"

So far, Byram Township Councilman Jim Oscovitch has been spared the rancor of other politicians who log on to the forums.

The 39-year-old councilman says a big reason for that is the nonpartisan form of government in his Sussex County township.

Oscovitch posts less frequently than LaBow and Zikas, and usually in an easy-going, informal manner.

"It's just like anything else," Oscovitch said. "It's a great tool to use, especially when you want to get a meeting date out there to people and especially when it may affect more than just citizens of your town. The unfortunate thing is, people can hide behind a forum name and others can get attacked. But more often than not, it's still an opportunity for you to get across your point in a positive manner."

He admits he doesn't have thick skin and cares what others say about him.

The former standout high school wrestler began using the forums to get wrestling information for his son, and eventually used them to inform constituents about such topics as BYOB laws and whether the Lackawanna Cutoff rail line would be restored in the township.

A councilman for eight years, Oscovitch said he peeks at the more volatile chat rooms for other towns, calling it "good reading."

An added benefit, he said, is that "there are a lot of other people out there smarter than me and you get a lot of ideas from them."

Oscovitch said that although it is impossible to agree with everyone in the Web forum, it is a useful medium for interacting with constituents.

"Nothing beats face-to-face communication," he said. "But I think any form of communication is a positive thing."


Mike Frassinelli covers Warren County. He can be reached at mfrassinelli@starledger.com or (908) 475-1218.


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