May 09, 2005

Phil Blog (as in Bredesen)

I go out to lunch, and when I come back, Governor Phil Bredesen starts a blog.

Let me confess upfront: I won’t be blogging every single day. But I will, on a regular basis, use this space to share my ideas on issues and provide personal dispatches from trips I take and events I attend, like the National Governors Association conferences. Stay tuned for more entries.

I hope that he actually writes it (as opposed to dictating it and having a staff member write it) and it is not just another way for him to issue standard press releases in a "blog format." If that's the case, then it's not really a blog. However, I will give him the benefit of the doubt and welcome his apparent willingness to facilitate more open communication with the citizen's of Tennessee.

Now, I wonder if we can get Naifeh to blog...Bill Hobbs is waiting for his email to get him started.

(via: Adam Groves)

Update: Story on Bredesen's blog from News 2...

With the governor now joining Rep. Campfield, is blogging now the future up on Capitol Hill?

"Probably not," said Sen. Tim Burchett. "I really don't have the time to fool with it, to tell you the truth."

Sen. Burchett was joking when he told News 2 that he didn't know what a blog was, but House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh apparently wasn't when he said, "How could I blog when I doesn't even know how to do email?" Rep. Campfield - who's been a frequent blog critic of the speaker - said he'd gladly show Naifeh how to blog.

"I would go so far as to set it up for him and all he would have to do is answer and talk," said Campfield.

There is no word yet if Naifeh will take up the offer.

Scratch what I said about Naifeh sending Bill Hobbs an email then.

Comments:

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Blake, if it turns into a press release blog, no one from the Bredesen administration/campaign was in Ed Cone's lecture on local politics and blogging.

We kinda beat that horse silly.

Posted by: Pink kitty at May 9, 2005 03:36 PM

Let this be a lesson of the power of one to all state legislators. Rep. Campfield got the Governor to take notice. Thanks Stacey!

Posted by: Terry at May 9, 2005 04:11 PM

A politician is a politician, is a politician. This is a press tool, pure and simple. Don't look for intimate details of government workings. Just more blah, blah, blah.

Posted by: Ron at May 9, 2005 04:15 PM

"I hope that he actually writes it (as opposed to dictating it and having a staff member write it) and it is not just another way for him to issue standard press releases in a 'blog format.'"

Worse yet, it might be something written enitrely by a staffer and Bredesen will never see it. I do hope he gives us some real insights into what's going on at the Hill. He's a pretty hands-off guy so I expect it to be a pretty banal exercise. If I'm wrong, I'll be the first person to tip my cap.

Posted by: Matthew White at May 9, 2005 05:26 PM

Bredesen is using this purely as another venue for press releases.
He's far too much of a coward to actually allow comments on his "blog."
Sharon

Posted by: Sharon at May 10, 2005 11:41 PM