70 Year Old Newsviner Gets On The Ohio Ballot

August 22nd, 2006

Old Fogey working the phones in Coshocton CountyPeople often tell me that we don’t toot our own horn enough at Newsvine. Record traffic, record unique users, a rapidly expanding groundswell of contributors, and we don’t issue press releases, pump our chests out, or thumb our noses at competitors every time something cool happens over here.

Every so often, however, something *really* cool happens, and one of those somethings just happened.

Newsvine writer and community favorite Jerry “Old Fogey” Firman has just worked his way onto the Ohio ballot in the race to replace embattled Congressman Bob Ney in the U.S. House of Representatives. For those who aren’t familiar with the situation, Ney has been implicated by witnesses in the high profile bribery case involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

So who is this “Old Fogey”, you ask?

Well he’s a 70 year old retired Army aviator and newspaper man who provides some of the most enlightening and insightful commentary you’ll see around Newsvine. Although we think he’s giving the site a bit too much credit, he says in his column:

“I must admit that running for any office or even thinking of politics was very far from my mind when I first started to write on Newsvine. Newsvine got me off my duff and made me realize I should be doing something for my friends and neighbors instead of mowing grass and going to Texas for the winter.”

Although Newsvine is not in the business of endorsing political candidates, we’re more than happy to help spread the word of Firman’s candidacy. It’s a shining example of the positive effect online communities can have on individuals. Sometimes you don’t know what you’re capable of until you find the right environment.

No one knows how successful this underdog citizen’s bid for an Ohio congressional post will be, but win or lose, we’ll learn a lot about the civic process from his candidacy and his column.

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6 Responses:

Matt J says:

Interesting. He seems down to earth considering he calls himself old fogey.

#1 - August 22nd, 2006 at 4:37 am
Chris Griffin says:

What I find interesting is this 70 year old is tech savvy enough to even know how to use something like Newsvine. My mom who is over 20 years younger is a complete idiot when it comes to anything to do with computers. I remember spending almost 45 minutes trying to explain to her how to copy and paste…..ugh.

Anyways it says a lot about Newsvine’s popularity and ease of use.

#2 - August 22nd, 2006 at 9:05 am
Chris Griffin says:

On another note, its refreshing to see a CEO not blog about his company or what blah blah conference he’s going to be at every other post.

I’ve grown weary of blogs that has become nothing but self-promotion. I know this is one of the objectives of having a blog in the first place, but there has to be a certain ratio of insightful articles to self-promotion. Reading insightful content is why I subscribed in the first place, and that insightful content is what probably opened the door to all the conferences these people are speaking at/hosting in the first place.

Toot your horn all you want, but don’t blow my eardrums out.

#3 - August 22nd, 2006 at 9:25 am
Mike D. says:

Thanks Chris. Yeah, to be honest, as much as I love Newsvine, I’d rather only talk about it maybe 10% of the time here. Never really enjoyed the self-promotion thing too much. Better to have other people talking about you…

#4 - August 22nd, 2006 at 9:37 am
Bradley says:

Woohoo for Ohio!

#5 - August 24th, 2006 at 10:42 am
Kevin Marino says:

Very cool. Gonna have to check out Newsvine ( I read your blog but never went to Newsvine, go figure).

Glad you minimize self-promo here. Self-promo is good, but only in the right context.

Cream of Wheat rules!!!!

#6 - August 30th, 2006 at 6:12 am

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