Maybe I'm missing something here. A politician runs an online ad and with Google links that ad to some work he is currently doing. His opponents call foul. Google link is pulled. So what am I missing?
FT.com has: - quote - Eliot Spitzer was accused on Wednesday of blurring his role as New York attorney-general with his political ambitions to run for state governor after his campaign office paid Google to link a search for “AIG” to a website promoting his gubernatorial bid.
AIG, the world's largest insurer, is at the centre of investigation by Mr Spitzer and others regulators into alleged improper accounting. - end quote -
NY Post has a quick blurb on State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer using Google for a "sponsored link" so that searching 'AIG' pulled an ad for Spitzer. The ad is for a webpage for people to learn about and contribute to his (possible?) run for Governor.
Ok, I understand that the investigation into AIG finances are ongoing and the opponents to Mr. Spitzer running for governor are throwing sand in the air over this but I don't see where it is illegal OR unethical for him to link his ad to work he is currently doing.
Yahoo News has a bit of an article about it. I can see why he pulled his ad/link off. It seems instead of standing up to opponents the 'in thing' for politicians to do is bow and scrape and act like a weak girly man as they exit backwards apologizing and sniveling any time someone criticizes them.
I'd rather see him stand up, tell his critics to go cry in their porridge and keep the link.
well-meaning but without understanding" - - Mr. Justice Louis D. Brandeis, 1928 - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It is not a sin to be ignorant but it is a sin to remain ignorant. - - prying1, 2006
First off...if I want to know about AIG and punch it into a search engine I sure don't want to bump into a political ad...else I would have typed 'politicians' or maybe 'hack parasites'.
ReplyDeleteSecond; yes, it is a known breach of ethics when a public employee uses their job position to promote a run for public office. There is almost no doubt that this AG signed numerous documents saying that he would not do so. His 'bowing and scraping' is no doubt a function of being revealed as having no relationship to keeping his word.
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ReplyDeleteSure wish this comment page had a way to correct errors. Deleted last posts due to HTML errors...
ReplyDeleteMy reply to Tim:
First off, Google has adverts on the right side of the page for just about everything you type in. That is one of the ways they make money.
For some reason 'Hack Parasites' does not bring up ads. Maybe he should use those keywords.His ad would be the only one...
I guess I just don't see the 'ad link' as him using his job position to promote his run for office.
It may well be that he is attacking AIG in an attempt to put his name in the papers and that nothing will come of his charges. That is a different issue. That issue should be pressed forward in attacking his character if indeed it is true.- slate has an article on the guy - http://slate.msn.com/id/2108509/ - that paints a rather lurid picture of the man.
I guess I just don't see the big deal about an ad link if there are so many other things to inspect about the man.