Position on blog episode may come back to haunt

I suppose it was only a matter of time until Assistant County Attorney Kent Weissinger found a way to blame the messenger for his lapse in judgment.

Less than a week after the Times wrote a story that revealed Weissinger was the host of a Web site called Hernando News Source Live, and that he had been posting comments there and on other media sites while at work, Weissinger has now declared that the media in Hernando County "need a watchdog as much as … government." The inference is that he is just the man for that job.

And apparently that activity would be okay with his boss, County Attorney Garth Coller, who declared in a followup story Saturday that as long as Weissinger doesn't use his wzork computer, he is free to post and comment to his heart's content. "What he does at home is his First Amendment right and his personal business," Coller said.

I admire the spirit of what Coller said, but I can't help but wonder if there would be a limit to such open-ended idealism. I'll bet if Weissinger were sitting at home and posting remarks critical of Coller, or the county commissioners, or the county administrator, for example, he would be told to stop it.

To be clear: I really don't care that Weissinger has a Web site where he likes to play newsman. When it comes to lively debate about timely topics, the more the merrier. And I am flattered that about half of his posts are links to stories in the Times.

And I have no reason to believe that Weissinger is anything less than a competent attorney. I've watched him ply his trade without scandal or noteworthy blunder for the 10 years he has worked for the county, and I suspect he has burned his share of midnight oil.

But I do care that he spent some time, even if it was only a small amount, doing it on the computer that taxpayers bought for him, while a chair we also gave him cradled his backside.

I also care that his indiscreet misstep gives ammunition to those who wrongly assume that all government employees are wasteful and/or not working as hard as they should be.

So, while Weissinger and Coller might get away with downplaying this as a nonstory for now, and with blaming the so-called "dead-tree media" for its news judgment, they can count on this episode coming back to haunt them. It likely will be a clarion call for that faction as the commission constructs and cuts its budget this summer.

And when that happens, the blame won't lie with the messenger.

Jeff Webb can be reached at webb@sptimes.com or (352) 754-6123.