This weekend, progressive blogger/social media types gathered in Providence, Rhode Island for Netroots Nation 2012 (NN12). Here in Wisconsin, Democrats gathered in Appleton for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin’s 2012 convention. Throughout NN12, folks like Emily Mills from Dane 101 were tweeting updates on the goings-on at NN12, prompting a Twitter outburst directed at Mills by Graeme Zielinski, the DPW’s Communications Director.
Michael Donnelly, who writes for Dane101 along with Mills, has more on the situation.
Graeme Zielinski, Communications Director of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, didn’t like one of the statements dane101 quoted (I should note, this wasn’t dane101’s opinion, it was a statement from one of the panelists). Zielinski responded, “We needed more drum circles? You are living in a childlike fantasy. But go ahead with your ridiculous blather-we can take it.” Then when another twitterer responded, Zielinski personally attacked her.
If I weren’t at NN this weekend, I would be at the WisDems convention in Appleton. I’m disappointed that this is how a spokesman for the party feels it’s appropriate to express himself in a public forum. When you hold a position like that, like it or not people equate your statements with those of the party. A number of readers felt that way. To their credit, they doubted whether Zielinski’s comments even came from a real account.
It turns out that those comments were indeed from Zielinski’s account.
There’s also this article from the Capital Times that does a pretty good job of summing up why Zielinski would make as good of a “fall guy” as any right now. I don’t know about Tate, but Zielinski definitely needs to go.
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/govt-and-politics/politiscope/madison-politiscope-dem-spokesman-graeme-zielinski-the-most-bizarre-man/article_7587f6f6-b3f1-11e1-a971-0019bb2963f4.html
Let’s be realistic here, if a Republican spokesman were acting like this, we’d be up in arms about it.
There was never any doubt those tweets came from Graeme himself, and I think they were wildly inappropriate.