Mayor in a snit

The folks of Logan have elected a mayor who apparently doesn’t like the way the local media covers him, and so from now on he wants all questions to himself or other city officials to be in writing. City officials will send answers in writing, as well. (Read about it here.)

Mayor Randy Watts (pictured above) isn’t the only one ever to try this tactic. The most prominent example was President Herbert Hoover, who would read submitted questions before press conferences, then decide which ones to answer. We all know how successful his presidency was.

The Logan mess has gotten some attention around the country. The Statesman Journal in Oregon compared it to the way the Obama administration held closed meetings on health care reform. “It’s equally offensive and undemocratic when municipal officials attempt to censor the timely flow of information,” an editorial said.

A Standard-Examiner blog by Doug Gibson said “I’d call this Orwellian but Watts is obviously too much of a bumpkin to have real Orwellian traits. According to the news article, it seems he’s just in a snit and looking for a scapegoat.”

You don’t need to be a genius to understand that face-to-face interviews are better than written ones. Writing is an art many never master. Written answers can lead to many more misunderstandings than a conversation, where someone can always ask, “Wait, what do you really mean by that?”

For the good of the folks up there who pay taxes and need to know what’s happening at City Hall, I hope this policy ends soon.