Where are they now? Plainfield's 'stalking horse' political blogs

During Plainfield's most recent political seasons there have been two 'stalking horse' blogs perhaps not known to the general blog-reading public. I thought to check up on them this weekend, to see what they're up to now that there is no political contest.

I call them 'stalking horse' blogs because, while pretending to be disinterested, they actually are were decoys promoting political candidacies.

Of course you know that Dan has endorsed political candidates, and you may ask yourself why he did not include these blogs in the daily CLIPS roundups during the campaign season.

Close readers of the blogs will note that Dan, Olddoc, Bernice and Maria have all commented at various times on 'anonymous' bloggers. Dan has made it very clear that if a blogger won't sign her or his real name, they won't be covered in CLIPS. Fair enough, right?

Now, to the blogs.

The first is 'No Strings Attached', whose tagline defies compression, and which started appearing in January 2009, with an interesting spurt of activity during the fall general election season.

The 'author' of the blog claims to have 'a Bachelor of Arts wherein English, History, and British Literature are truffles of sweetness in my world'. (Take that, those of you who ever thought Dan could be highfalutin'!)

I say 'author' in quotes because if you read through the posts you will notice that as the fall political season approaches, the 'voice' of the writer undergoes a distinct transformation.

There are those who think that the blog had become at this point a mouthpiece for Assemblyman Jerry Green in his re-election bid, as it echoed his style and his themes.

Read and decide for yourself.

The second blog is "The Plain View", billed as 'A Commentary on People, Places Events and Life in Plainfield, NJ'.

This blog claims to be authored by Jazz Johnson, whom some will remember as Plainfield's (and before that, the PMUA's) public information officer. There are a total of nine posts from March through May.

I say 'claims' because as Plainfield's public information officer, I had years of experience with Jazz's writing style in numerous press releases and personal communications.

The writing style in these blog posts bears no resemblance at all to Jazz's as far as I can tell, and the blog was never noted on CLIPS because I thought the posts were authored by someone other than Jazz.

Rumors eventually surfaced that suggested they were written by a high-ranking PMUA executive -- which might be inferred from both the attacks on Adrian Mapp and the extended defense of the PMUA (remember the PMUA was a hot topic during the primary).

While I have no proof, I do find it interesting that the posts ceased after May 20.

Was there nothing else to write about?

Meanwhile, back at the daily slog you will find Dan, Bernice, Olddoc, and Maria, now joined by Piv as a regular blogger.

And we have Councilors Mapp, Storch, McWilliams and Burney, as well as Assemblyman Jerry Green who chime in frequently, though not daily.

That, plus Plainfield Sports News, Plainfield Trees, and the three personal blogs by Rebecca, Renata and Jackie make Plainfield perhaps the liveliest blog scene in New Jersey.

Could even be livelier if 'stalking horses' want to sign their real names.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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