The leader of Hounslow Council has had his knuckles rapped for linking his council blog to a political site.

Councillor Peter Thompson has been officially reprimanded by the national Standards’ Committee for the content of his blog on May 19, which it considered a breach of the members’ code of conduct as the website was used in a way that could be interpreted as political.

yourlocalGuardian

Apart from this looking like a political spat the story highlights the benefits of councillors setting up their own blogs and not relying on council provided sites for communicating with their constituents.  It can’t be easy to be a local politician without be political.  As Cllr Mary Reid says in the CivicSurf video (at 0:19 secs):

“I want a space where I can be what I am, a politician…”

At the review meeting last week our Cllrs asked for examples of civic leaders who were blogging so here is the first one.

Cllr Mary Reid

Mary has been blogging for a few years. She has a popular but low key blog that concentrates on events in her constituency and council area, with the occasional comment on national and international matters such as her role in developing e-democracy in the UK and abroad.

Mary also managed to keep her blog going through her year as Mayor of Kingston upon Thames. The role meant that she was unable to be political on the blog, but a succession of photo-opportunities meant there was plenty to blog about.

Mary uses the ReadMyDay platform that was developed for civic leaders but which lacks the widespread support and integration of Wordpress.