- Mayor Dan Mylott - www.mylott.com:
Well, it's almost a website. It has a picture of the mayor and a bunch of signs. It also has old news that he's running for mayor, and a slick babelfish translation button at the bottom so you can try to translate it from French to German (doesn't work), or read the page in what I assume would be badly mangled Japanese.
Here's his catchy slogan to illustrate:
Sweet...
Oddly, that's it. There are no active links on the page at all. Nothing about issues. No list of qualifications. Nothing.
Well, unless you dig into the actual html, where you can find the old links commented out. It appears this website is just recycled from the Mayor's 2001 campaign. As evidence, here's the image beneath Dan's picture on the front page:
Compare to the image in the same spot on every other page:
Now, there's nothing wrong with updating an old campaign website for your current campaign, but sheesh Dan, at least put something on the new site!
For a trip down memory lane, here are the old pages no longer linked to:
News & Events
"Where Dan Stands"
"Dan's Biography"
More news, apparently
Old gallery of funny pictures
Now, I'm sure that Mayor Mylott could at least update his Biography. Plus I'm willing to bet he might still stand for something or other. Maybe all that information is out in the media, but it's beyond me why he's not making his own case. C'mon, Mr. Mayor, give us something new! - Lisa Wong - www.votelisawong.com:
Lisa Wong's website when it first came online was embarrassing. A single page of mostly white space with a weird-ass slogan and very little of anything else on it. Mylott's page above was superior in comparison, which is pretty sad.
Happily, they've switched places. Where once Mylott had a real site that turned into one page, Wong's one page has turned into a real (four page!) website. The new site is in place now and it's much better. It still has its quirks (it would probably be good to rename the main page to something other than "Page 1" for instance), but it's at least got some substance to it now. For instance, there's this awesome picture of her and her brothers preparing for a formal-dress game of "Red Rover":
Aside from the charming family photos, there's actually a pretty in-depth Issues page. I won't bother quoting it here, but overall it's a pretty decent list of what Wong hopes to do as mayor. As such, it may be more of a "plans" page than an "issues" page, but at least it's not an annoying "What Lisa Stands For" page.
I'm also going to go out on a limb and bet that Lisa actually made this website herself. Why? Because the title of the "meet Lisa" page is actually "ABOUT ME". Aha!
This isn't a bad thing, though. There are zero cases of "it's" being used when "its" should have been, nor are there problems with "insured" versus "ensured". This automatically makes Wong a better writer than 95% of the people on the internet. Which is obviously a qualification you want in a mayor. - Ted DeSalvatore - not really...:
I don't know if Ted DeSalvatore has a real website hidden away somewhere. After all he's a computer guy right? Or if my suspicions are correct and this is his LinkedIn profile, a "Computer Service & Support Training Specialist". Either way, a dude who should have a website.
But no, once again I've linked to the hilariously incomplete Team to Elect DeSalvatore's contact form. Incidentally, if you're an obnoxious blogger who perpetually makes fun of Ted they probably won't want to hear from you, even if you try to be nice.
Regardless, it's not really Ted's site so it doesn't count in the grand total.
UPDATE 7/18/07: He's got one now! Review is here - Ronald Dionne - ?:
No website I could find, but I don't think anyone gives him much chance anyway. He could better his chances with a bit of self promotion on the web, perhaps. But then people might have to give him more of a chance. - Tom Donnelly - ?:
I couldn't find a website for him either. Probably he's just too big a pussy to make one.
UPDATE 8/3/07: Not so! Review is here
There you have it, your handy "Progressive Fitchburg Guide to Mayoral Campaign Websites, Featuring the Unicow". Now back to work.
8 comments:
Mylott's son is (was?) an "internet marketing consultant", and was heavily involved in his first campaign for Mayor. He appeared at campaign rallies, photo ops, etc.
Shortly after Mylott was elected, I sent an email to the mayor's office suggesting a volunteer effort to clean up the downtown area. I thought maybe local businesses could donate equipment for the day (rakes, trash bags, pressure washers, etc), and residents could all chip in to clean up their respective neighborhoods. A couple of months later, Mike McLaughlin came to my door with a flyer for the "First Annual Fitchburg Ward Cleanup." I thought, "Hey, responsive city government - I think I'll like this place."
I met up with some of my neighbors early in the morning on the day of the cleanup, and we collectively decided that it wasn't worth the trip down to city hall for free hot dogs and commemorative red cleanup day t-shirts. Instead, we worked up and down the streets in our neighborhood. By mid-afternoon, we'd made it down to Pearl street. At this point, we're starting to run into other people on the cleanup for the first time, and we realize that we're the only ones without red t-shirts... almost. About a block away, there's an armed deputy supervising a work release crew, all of whom are dressed in normal street clothes (like us). After a while, Mylott's son ambles up, pats my neighbor on the shoulder and says, "I think it's really great that you guys are out here - although, ha ha, it looks like you don't have much choice." We told him we were all homeowners in the neighborhood, and he turned white as a sheet.
I don't know if he's lost his taste for politics, "internet marketing", (or maybe even his father), but it looks like the last updates on his site date back to about 2003.
Oddly appropriate.
well it is pretty clear that Lisa Wong is the only one who is taking the run for Mayor seriously. what is wrong with the others? don't they you are only supposed to act defeated and lazy once you GET elected!
(meant to say "don't they realize you are only supposed to act defeated and lazy once you GET elected!")
sorry...
Of all the politicians, past and present, I have to say Dean Tran's website is the most professional and well designed. It's better than most state and federal candidate's sites I've seen.
Of all the politicians, past and present, I have to say Dean Tran's website is the most professional and well designed. It's better than most state and federal candidate's sites I've seen.
It's true, which is pretty sad.
Hello All,
It is still early in the game...but I wouldn't be surprised if you see some major changes to Ms. Wongs website soon...hint hint
Not sure if the previous anonymous posting was implying that Mr. Trans website was bad, or that it was just sad that so few politicians put much effort into their political websites...hmmm
I would think that Mr. DeSalvatore will make a showing on the net as well...be interesting to see..
Not sure if the previous anonymous posting was implying that Mr. Trans website was bad, or that it was just sad that so few politicians put much effort into their political websites...hmmm
Both, as a matter of fact.
Regarding Mylott website:
I believe that Mylott PLANNED to have more links and pages on his website but he did not BUDGET for this during the website planning phase and, when the time came to PAY FOR THOSE SERVICES (links and additional pages), there was no money in his budget.
Maybe he should charge a "fee per click" to help offset the costs of having additional pages?
Michele M.
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