Brazen critic of mayor offers Web-based review
By Herman Wang Staff Writer
For almost two years, the Web site www.worstmayorever.com has skewered Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield and his administration, sparing no punches and taking no prisoners. From the first post Aug. 8, 2005, criticizing Mr. Littlefield’s campaign tactics to the most recent entry about the mayor’s proposed homeless services center, the blog has chronicled the administration’s moves with biting wisecracks and more than a bit of acknowledged hyperbole. Mr. Littlefield was elected mayor April 12, 2005. “When we started this, we knew we’d have plenty to write about, just because, well, Ron Littlefield is the Worst. Mayor. Ever,” reads a post from Dec. 30, 2005. “But, what we weren’t prepared for is how boring it is to follow the actions of this rudderless administration.” Mr. Littlefield said he has not read the site in at least 18 months and dismissed its credibility. He said some of his technology-savvy friends and staffers have offered to find out who Mr. Blades is, but he’s not interested. “People can put anything on a Web site,” Mr. Littlefield said. “If it were funny, maybe I’d look at it. If you get into politics and that sort of thing really bothers you, you need to get out of politics.” The author of the site, who goes by the name of Billy Blades, refused to disclose his true identity. “Billy Blades doesn’t exist outside of this context,” he wrote in an e-mail response to questions from the Chattanooga Times Free Press. The author said there are no plans to stop. “The longer this administration goes on, the worse it gets,” he said, citing the mayor’s decision to provide only monthly curbside recycling collection and his homeless complex proposal. Michelle Michaud, the mayor’s former communications director and a frequent target of the site, also said she pays no mind to the blog. “It must be a very sad and miserable person who would have an existence bringing everybody down by publishing such nonsense and nontruth,” she said. The site is hosted on local blog provider chattablogs .com, whose co-creator, Josiah Q. Roe, said he has not been able to determine Mr. Blades’ identity or identities. “They log in from various (Internet protocol) addresses all across the metro region, so it’s impossible to figure out who it is,” Mr. Roe said. Mr. Blades said he has ON THE WEB See the Worst Mayor Ever Web site at www.worstmayorever.com
received only three negative e-mails from one person about his site. On the flip side, he’s received hundreds of positive e-mails, he said. He’s even sold a few dozen each of the stickers, shirts and mugs with a “Worst Mayor Ever” logo. Asked whether Mr. Littlefield can ever shake the “worst mayor ever” tag, Mr. Blades, an unabashed supporter of former mayor and now U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., unequivocally said, “No.” Kevin West, news director of talk radio station WGOWFM 102.3, said he checks the site from time to time for a few chuckles, though he doesn’t give it much credence. “I do read it, but it’s not something I read for news value,” he said. “He doesn’t cite sources, and nobody can verify the things he says.” Chattanooga-based political blogger Joe Lance, who runs www.tennesseeticket.com and occasionally has been critical of the mayor, said Mr. Blades’ site is an example of how the Internet is changing the way people interact and comment on government officials. “The fact that a citizen can publish unfettered commentary about a municipal government is crucial in a time when public relations specialists refine official communications to little more than bland pandering,” he said. E-mail Herman Wang at hwang@timesfreepress.com Ron Littlefield
