Maryland bloggers respond to mayor’s attack against them
Joining a growing list of politicians who have attacked the blogging medium, a Maryland mayor identified local political bloggers as a danger to society in her final State of the City address last week.
“While we face the same challenges that other cities and towns are facing, our biggest challenge by far is a small element within the city that consistently seeks to find ’smoking guns’ and conspiracies within the ranks of the city workforce,” Salisbury Mayor Barrie Parsons Tilghman reportedly said. “Daily, I run into citizens who are wary of the constant ‘gotcha’ mentality on the part of a few citizens and City Council members. Citizens fear standing up and serving because it is simply not worth the vilification they chance at the hands of blogs and with threatening phone calls.”
Later in the speech she said, “This is not about differences of opinion and policy questions. This is quite simply mean-spirited ugly constant intimidation. Combined with the lies and innuendo of several bloggers this city is under siege.”
I spoke to Joe Albero, who said he is likely the sole blogger she’s referring to (“I am the main target. I’m the only target.”) The blogger told me he launched his site Salisbury News three and a half years ago after he personally met with Tilghman to try to inform her about concerns he had about the local zoo. When she failed to address the issue in what he considered a timely fashion, he decided to take his complaints to the internet and has been aggressively covering local issues ever since.
“Her remark is absolutely ridiculous,” he said. “To try to reach out to the public, and blame Salisbury News for the blight, for the graffiti, for the lack of business, for the real estate market taking a dive. It’s just absolutely crazy, if anything; unfortunately for her, we’re here to expose all the things that she had 12 years to cover up.”
Albero said that he and other bloggers have been more aggressive than traditional media in that area, and that local officials are not used to such close scrutiny. “We have an election coming up, she’s not running again. The press said directly to her, ‘do the blogs have anything with your decision not to run again?’ She said absolutely not. Then she does her State of the City address and blames everything on the blogs. It’s just incredible.”
Kenneth Burns echoed the idea that these remarks are a direct result of Salisbury being such a small news market. Burns works as a producer for a DC-area radio station and runs the blog Maryland Politics Today, which he launched a few years ago.
“If she had pulled this in either DC or Baltimore, she would have been laughed out of the room,” Burns told me in a phone interview last night. “Because [in those areas] there are blogs, there are radio commentators, there are newspaper columnists that will criticize you at the drop of a hat if you do something wrong, good, bad, or indifferent. The only reason she’s going to get away with it is because Salisbury’s a much smaller market where they only have one newspaper, a couple television stations down there, and a couple of talk radio stations.”
While he agreed that some of the online coverage of the mayor has been “outright ugly,” he said much of the criticism from blogs has been constructive. “This isn’t the first time she called out bloggers,” he said. “There was a press conference — I believe in early 2007 — where she said these blogs are mean spirited, they’re evil, and they don’t put the city in a positive light. But really they didn’t put her in a positive light because there are not too many people who approve of the job that she’s doing.”
But most importantly, Burns said, the mayor shouldn’t have said these things because she’s essentially attacking her own constituency. “Obviously she has a lot of guts criticizing not only people who are bloggers, but some of those bloggers might be citizens of her city, so she’s basically saying that some of your fellow citizens are dangerous to your city, and that’s not a good thing to say in any respect.”
Sir, there are many blogs addressing issues in the Salisbury area.
Most, if not all, of the Salisbury blog sites are listed at shoreblogs.net
At outragedrichard.com since 2004 I have been addressing for years the shoddiness of the downtown:
http://outragedrichard.com/home/salvage-salisbury/
The latest outrage is that Mayoral candidate Jim Ireton is an unrepentant homosexual and attempting to bring homosexual legitimization to the Salisbury mayor’s office.
you really should do a google search for the terms “Joe Albero” and you will see that he is not just hated by the local politicians, but is disliked by most people.
You should also go to the site: http://casesearch.courts.state.md.us/inquiry/inquiry-index.jsp
this site contains court cases in maryland. Search first for the last name “Albero” first name “Joseph” (you can also search for the first name joe to get further cases).
He has had battery charges and many other things. The biggest issues is the perjury charges that he pleaded out on. Joe is truly a piece of work.
the salisbury mayor and her crew are terrible. but Joe goes after anyone he has a grudge with and will try to ruin that person’s life. Even if you know one of his enemies as a childhood friend, joe will go after you to.
I think that blogs are important and need to be heard, but Joe is out of control and has brought everything that is bad about the internet into one site. He stalks people, takes pictures of them at private events, and posts invalid and untrue stores about people.
I hope that you can see both sides of the story. Joe is a menace. There are other blogs out there that have some form of truth to them. Joe’s just doesnt happen to be one of them. Just googling the “anti albero sites” will show you that most others out there know the truth about joe. It is just a shame that joe is getting publicity about a bad mayor, when he is even worse.
Contrary to L.Thompson’s claim, only 3 of the City and County’s 14 elected pols “hate” Albero. Why? Because he has exposed their mistakes and incompetence. Those 3 would be Mayor Tilghman, Councilmen Comygys, Smith and possibly Shields.
Yes, Albero has been extreme and beyond even marginally good taste with his criticisms in the past. However, his constant research, concern for the city and bloging what he finds have been invaluable to residents and businesses alike.
BTW – good blog you have here.
I also am an NPR addict.
Spelling correction:
blogging
Joe is such a bad guy, he exposed the continued pollution of the Wicomico River by the zoo and the WWTP. Joe exposed the ties of the former council president Mike Dunn to a land deal and illegal pipestem annexation. He exposed the details of a $14 million dollar TIF that will screw the taxpayers of the city for the next 30 years or more. He exposed the city paying nearly half a mil for a piece of land that originally was to be donated to the city by the developer. Yep Joe is such a bad guy the chief of police sued him and ended up getting nothing and the mayor filed a civil suit against him in July 2007 that she has conveniently put off taking to court until April 28th, nine days after she leaves office. Oh, did I forget to mention the assault on a councilwoman by the mayors daughter in the presence of the mayor, chief of police and head of public works? Of course, none of them saw anything. The chief of police didn’t even see how drunk the mayor was at the time. Then there was the time the mayor showed up at a fire fighters event so drunk she fell on her butt coming in the door. Last but not least, under her tenure as mayor Salisbury now has the distinction of being the 10th most dangerous city, per capita, in the U.S.
Lloyd Thompson, leaving the same comment on many sites is one thing, using a different name on every site is a bit much. Got something to hide, do ya?
Lloyd Thompson is not telling the truth. Mr. Albero is NOT hated by most people in Salisbury. He has created a host of enemies because he refuses to let the wrongs carried out by politicians and those who head political entities be swept under the carpet. He holds people accountable for their actions (and inactions). The friends of these crooked people are the ones complaining.
Joe and Salisbury News has been instrumental in ending the political careers of many people whom most would consider corrupt. He has brought to light tremendous wastes in local government spending and has helped publicize the arrogant attitudes of some public officials who have stated “if you don’t like what goes on in Salisbury, you can leave.” He has created a blog that serves as a hub of public communication that has led to the location of missing people, missing pets, and has gotten out information necessary for public safety. On at least one occasion he posted photos of a criminal suspect and viewers were able to identify him for the law enforcement agency. His hard work through his blog was instrumental in raising more money for the Salvation Army during their bell ringing campaign in the Salisbury area than has ever been raised in one year. His news is more reliable and more up to date than any traditional form of MSM available to us due to his diligence…..and it’s free!
sounds like joe has several of his friends (or Joe himself is posting) to give him a boost up.
Just look at Joe’s criminal record (one of which is perjury).
Also Google His name. you will see that the first page is completely full of people that distrust joe. These few people that did a follow-up post here are in the minority. just do the research and you will see that Joe is not well liked by the community.
PK burns is a blowhard and thinks is basically calling salisbury a hick town.
Annapolis’ local paper did in fact call a local blogger ‘chemically imbalanced’.
The paper is just pandering to politicians and is actually very poorly written paper– it is therefore excused from its slanderous commonets, but Tilghman needs to resign
Doing a quick google, it looks like Joe Albero only has supporters on his own site (besides the few posts above). Almost every place that I could find had very little nice to say about him. And most were fellow bloggers. not the elected officials.
Sounds like there is more to Joe’s story than he is leading us to believe.
For clarification purposes :
PK burns is a blowhard and thinks is basically calling salisbury a hick town.
Annapolis’ local paper did in fact call a local blogger ‘chemically imbalanced’.
The Annapolis paper is just pandering to politicians/being a town gossip and is actually a very poorly written paper ( like my writing and typing ability) – it is therefore excused from its slanderous comments, but Tilghman needs to resign as he should at least try and stay above the fray.
The truth is that the next mayor, Jim Ireton, will be worse than the last.
We are extremely concerned that Jim Ireton, candidate for mayor of Salisbury, Maryland, and currently an elementary school teacher, is a dangerous homosexual who is unqualified for office and a threat against traditional family understood as a married man and woman with child.
We base this on several pieces of information:
1. The Salisbury Daily Times’ article on Jim Ireton ticketed for fleeing with another male from police after 3 AM on Rehoboth Beach, a known location for homosexual men to have illicit sex.
2. James Ireton Jr’s “Speak Out” August, 2001 letter to the Camp Rehoboth website in support of indoctrinating children with the homosexual agenda, and that “gays should make the best use of the legal structure in their battle.”
3. A commenter on a local website who alleges Jim Ireton has introduced his boyfriend to various individuals in the city of Salisbury.
4. Another commenter on a local website who alleges he and his wife saw Jim Ireton exiting homosexual establishment “Frog Pond Pub last fall in Rehoboth Beach”, and that Jim Ireton is “not ashamed of the [homosexual] lifestyle.”
I urge you to publicize this crucial issue, that of the legitimization of the homosexual agenda Jim Ireton’s mayoral candidacy brings to the people of Salisbury, Maryland. Please search the words “jim ireton homosexual” for more information.
The Salisbury, Maryland mayoral election is April 7, 2009. Please help advance morality and decency by spreading the message of “Family First, NO Jim Ireton!” by email or by telling your friends and family.
Please help us to preserve traditional family values,
Concerned Families Of Salisbury
sounds like salisbury is a bit backwoods period. Bad Mayor, crazy out of control and hated by all blogger, and homophobic citizens.
Wow!
Charles Snell: Yes, there are a few homophobes in Salisbury, like Outraged Richard and “Concerned Citizens.” However most of us are good people striving for tolerance and good, honest and competent people to run our city.
And to Lloyd Thompson’s accusation that Joe’s friends are posting here to give
him a boost, I have never meet Mr Albero.
However I appreciate him for the services he has provided to Salisbury, such as those so aptly outlined by Lenora Tilghman above.