During the 2006 Senate race, a video posted on YouTube of then-Sen. George Allen making fun of his opponent's aide became a turning point in the campaign.
Allen's flippant referral to the aide, who is of Indian descent, as "macaca" drew a firestorm of controversy. The incumbent, then considered among the favorites for the 2008 Republican presidential nod, lost the Senate race to Democrat Jim Webb.
Allen's YouTube moment launched the video-sharing Web site as a political force in national, and even state politics. Now, its influence may be trickling down to local government.
A video mocking some Stafford County supervisors recently surfaced on YouTube, where it has garnered more than 2,000 views. Taped at a July 1 Board of Supervisors meeting, it is edited to make supervisors who approved a new business tax look confused and foolish.
"I think we're going to be seeing more and more of this," said Stephen Farnsworth, a political expert at George Mason University. "What was revolutionary in a Senate race two years ago is now commonplace in a county meeting in 2008."
The Stafford video condenses an eight-hour meeting into short segments totaling 11 minutes. It features pleas from local business owners against the Business, Professional and Occupational License Tax and takes swipes at the three Democrats and one independent who voted for it.
Key segments focus on the proponents' sometimes inarticulate attempts to calculate the tax's potential cost to businesses and their repeated mistakes using a voting machine that prompted a series of re-votes.
HIGHLIGHTING A DIVIDE
Some of those targeted said the video does not provide a balanced look at the entire debate.
"The YouTube video is an underhanded attempt by some businesses owners and developers to mask the benefits of BPOL for Stafford homeowners," said board Chairman George Schwartz, a Democrat who is perhaps the most ardent supporter of BPOL. "Of course, it didn't include what might be considered the opposing view."
"It focuses on certain people. There's not really a clear picture of what happened at the meeting," said Joe Brito, an independent who is one of the main targets.
Democrat Bob Woodson dismissed the video as "cutting and editing."
"That's all it is and trying to make whatever point you want to make, whether it be truthful or not," he said.
The video portrays Republican supervisors who opposed the tax in a more flattering light. Supervisors Cord Sterling and Paul Milde, for example, appear poised and articulate during the discussions.
The GOP supervisors say the video fairly represents the arguments about BPOL, noting that it includes some business owners protesting the tax.
"It's not comprehensive of the entire board meeting. However, you can't argue that the events that are portrayed in there didn't take place," Sterling said.
Milde, who owns a small business in Stafford, was less diplomatic.
"Sometimes the truth hurts," he said. "That is the truth, what happened that night."
If anything, the clips shed light on the level of contention lately between the board's GOP minority and the Brito-Democratic coalition. And the video may only further divide the board, said Supervisor Harry Crisp, a Democrat.
"It doesn't do anything constructive as far as the county is concerned," he said. "It creates even more polarization than we've had, and I've personally been trying to be as bipartisan as possible."
A MYSTERIOUS NEW FORCE
It is unclear who created and posted the video. Schwartz and Milde said they know who was behind it but would not identify the source.
"The person who did it does not want to be the target of any kind of payback or retribution," Milde said.
What is clear, however, is that the Web has become a cheap and effective forum for political debate--one that elected officials and candidates must take seriously.
"This is the trouble that a politician will have with a medium like this," said Farnsworth, the political expert. "There could be a critic out there who will focus on that one thing you said that you wish you hadn't said."
Indeed, some Stafford supervisors say they now will be more careful at public meetings.
"In this day and age with YouTube and Facebook, it's just a matter of time before somebody did something like this," said Republican Supervisor Mark Dudenhefer. "It did give me some thought on what I should or should not say in a board meeting."
Milde points to the benefits. YouTube videos and other such Web postings help ensure government transparency and could inspire more resident involvement in local politics, he said.
"I think it's great because the level of trust in politicians in the United States is at an all-time low," Milde said. "At least with a clip on YouTube, you are seeing what really happened. No one can doctor or misconstrue what has been said."
Kafia Hosh: 540/735-1977
Email: khosh@freelancestar.com
To view the YouTube video of the July 1 supervisors meeting, click here To order a $10 DVD of the entire board meeting, call the county at 540/658-4541. Audio from board meetings is available free of charge at co.stafford.va.us. |