"Atypical Behavior"

I believe that's the clinical term for what I exhibited recently, when I passed up an opportunity to have my face plastered on the front page of the local weekly paper, the Milford Mirror!

I got a call from my friend Jill Dion about last week's contentious Board of Alderman meeting, when I was appointed to the MGAT (Milford Government Access TV) Committee. Jill and I spoke for a while, and she wanted to come over and take my picture to accompany the article. Here's how she reports it (from the Milford Mirror):

Adams, however, doesn’t appear eager to push his political views in the wrong place. He even turned down an interview to delve more deeply into his politics and the controversy over his appointment.

Yes, I know there are mouths agape all over the local blogosphere right now. I actually turned down an in-depth interview, with photos!

For someone like me, who typically indulges in excesses of self-promotion that would embarrass P.T. Barnum, this is a first!

But doing what I can to ensure good government access is all I'm interested in. Yes, I have political opinions, but they won't have anything to do with the work I'll be doing on the committee.

More from the article:

Republicans were not happy that not one GOP was named to the five-member panel, but they seemed most perturbed that Adams was among the Democratic appointments.

As the GOP aldermen tried to stall Adams' appointment, Republican Alderman Scott Willey pointed out that when the Republicans controlled the Board of Aldermen, they tried to balance boards and commissions with Republicans and Democrats.

The new MGAT committee has three Democrats and two unaffiliated voters on it.

“I look at this brand new committee, and there’s not one Republican on it,” Willey said. “It seems there should have been room for one if not two Republicans.”

Willey referred to Adams’ blog, and said Adams “is about as partisan as you can be for the Democratic party.” He suggested the Democratic slant might show up on the city’s public access channel.

I'm opinionated and can be a little caustic on occasion, sure, but I don't know if being labeled "partisan" is entirely fair.

My opinions are centered around getting better government. I've mentioned before how, on this blog, many Democrats have been the subject of my disapproval. In fact, I tend to be much tougher on the Democrats, because we've all learned to count on less from the Republicans over the last eight years. We almost expect the Republicans to screw things up. (I'm speaking on a national level, of course; our local Republicans are good, upstanding, extraordinary lawmakers. All of them.)

Democrats are supposed to be the ones who are going to rescue our nation now, and when I see ineffective leaders like Harry Reid bumbling his way through the legislature like Don Knotts in "The Incredible Mr. Limpet", I feel obligated to express my displeasure.

But anyway, I'm only interested in helping provide complete transparency to the workings of our local government. The more easily people can access the goings on, the more likely they'll be informed and involved.

And obviously, isn't that what we ALL want to see?