Political Website Trends

Generally looking at political web sites to garner blog material is about as interesting as watching the grass grow. Every candidate has the same basic schtick it seems.A new trend may be beginning thanks in large part to Macomb County Michigan 16th District Commisioner, Carey Torrice.

The opening line of her web site story is actually refreshing, she states, “You will notice that this website design and content is much different than other elected officials. I have chosen to adopt a fun, fresh, exciting image. Not only do I show my political side of life, but I have also chosen to show my non-political side as well. This allows people to get to know me and see what I am all about.” I, for one, think this is good. She actually chronicles some of the things she has been involved with on her web site.

I think it is great that a politician will ride around and have their photo taken trying to raise money raffling off a motorized sheriffs replicar. As a matter of fact, there wil be a road rally here in Irondequoit in early October followed by a chicken BBQ and a silent auction to raise money for our police force and two other noteworthy charities. If we had a replicar like this to raffle off I could see Supervisor Heyman riding around the campus in it to promote the event.

From my perspective I am a fan of the Habit for Humanity project and I sincerely see nothing wrong with a politician attending a ground breaking ceremony in a black mini dress and matching black leather 4 ” pumps. Seeing that sure beats seeing plumbers butt any day of the week in my mind.

That reminds me, I have never seen Councilwoman Bello wear pumps to a Library Board meeting. I think they would be hard to walk on during the winter months anyway.

Commisioner Torrice is also an avid physical fitness buff, proving that all people, regardless of their profession, need some sort of outlet to release the stresses and tensions of the daily grind.

Rumor has it that Councilwoman Aldersley also works feverishly at staying in shape.

Let’s be honest, being a politician does have it’s perks. Here Commisioner Torrice is pictured singing with Mike Love of the Beach Boys. I can just hear Mike Love singing, “Well east coast girls are hip…..” Here in Irondequoit I think Councilwoman Evans would rather be singing with the Stones or Bruce Springsteen.

The Commisioner even took the time to sign autographs after the show to raise money for charity. I think she may have gotten the idea from reading the Irondequoit blog, which is rumored to be one of her personal fav’s.

Of course no re-election campaign site would be complete without the pre-requisite “What I have done for you page”.

Commisioner Torrice states that, “As your Macomb County Commissioner, I believe that an elected official must be easily accessible to their constituents. (I think if she meets constituents she should wear the open toe’d sandals she wore to sing with Mike Love) I promise that if you ever contact me with a problem, I will immediately do my best to fight and resolve the issue.(Fighting is good but I have yet to see a mud wrestling picture on a political web site.) During my term in office, I have worked diligently as your County Commissioner. (I believe this political stuff is hard work, seriously) I have fought for many things. Some of the important things I have fought for are: a four-year university, (A Good Thing) cleaning the roads, (Another good thing) water quality, (If the water quality is bad you might have an increase in causal smoking and binge drinking) fighting to keep the library open, (Hey, we all can relate to library issues) treatment of animals, (an important issue — seriously. I dislike puppy factories with a passion) education, (Now we are talking. I personally am about education and kids no matter where in this Town they may live) promoting new business in Macomb County to create more jobs and balancing the budget. All of this has been accomplished without raising taxes.” (Every politician finishes with that line. Ya know what, it sounds good and I think it should remain a staple of every political campaign. Some even really do it!!)

You can view this new wave political web site by visiting careytorrice.com.

So what do you think? Is this type of self promotion better than the mud slinging sites and advertisments we normally see? Can you do arm presses with 25 pounds? Do you think a replica pedal car would be cool to bring to schools to promote law and order to the youngsters? How expensive would that be? Clean roads, fresh air, etc, seem like a pretty common canpaign cry across the country, don’t ya think? What would you like to see about politicians in their campaigns? Would this be something neat next year to promote candidacies? Something new perhaps, or, do you really love the mud slinging, name calling, stuff?