NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Going into a city government meeting these days is far from pleasant, but now we see that it is just as unpleasant, if not more so, for them. That's because they may have won the battle, but they're going to lose the war.
They were spiteful in purposely excluding this Internet newspaper that makes its home in New Smyrna Beach from advertising for the 125th city anniversary, but that's nothing new. They've been lavishing their print media friends with taxpayer money all along. The difference is we now know with certainty who they are. They dislike us because they know that we know what they are all about: Taking care of themselves and their connected insider chamber friends. The overpaid administrators set the agenda, the inept politicians blindly make the votes happen and the insiders reap the revenues.
Unlike the other media outlets that are desperate for revenue, we're small enough and lean enough to endure. We don't have to suck up to them. We don't have to grovel. We don't have to write their stories or let them set the agenda. And that's why we can report the news: What they are up to behind the scenes while feigning transparency. It's becoming more and more obvious what their game is, which explains why everyday people don't go to these meetings anymore. I don't like them either, but while I'm there, at least I have my MacBook Pro to get through the tedium, the minutia, the BS.
Sitting through government meetings is how the media has been plied and manipulated. Having good sources, understanding how to access public records and challenging their empty rhetoric is really the only way to let the public know what is truly happening. It's how to beat them at their own game. The mayor said the city manager doesn't deny calling the reporter with the laptop and the video camera an "idiot." So how come they're the ones now with the forlorn faces; with the silent treatment. After all, they got the best of us -- or did they? Judging by their sour pusses Tuesday night, they understand now they can influence the less challenging government agenda media players, but they have no hold on us.
As we continue to bring the Sunshine on the mayor and his manipulating manager, who's the idiot now? You won the battle, but you can't win the war. The vice mayor can't play "off the record" any more. The insiders and the chamber muckymucks have each other. The manager and her enterouge have their six-figure salaries, the politicians have their gavels and their microphones. But what they don't have is the public's respect. New Smyrna Beach residents know they aren't the priority; that it's all about municipal government taking care of itself and its friends.