by Tim Boger
It's a digital rumor mill as potent as a high school grapevine. The main difference: the topic is politics rather than sex
Growing steadily since its creation in 2001, www.lipolitics.com has become both an independent venue for "the people" to voice their opinions and a thorn in the side of some elected officials. And while Long Island's broadest electronic political network and debate forum may not be taken seriously by some government leaders, nobody can deny its ability to break news before reporters do or remind voters why they should be angry with their elected officials.
In one post, from Oct. 11, 2002, an author identified as Kenny b says, "Frank Petrone—Huntington Supervisor—now a Democrat. Welcome to the Dem party, Frankie. Bring those donuts with you, would ya?" The official public announcement that Petrone switched parties would not be made for another week.
The cheeky message is one of more than 40,000 posts on one of the website's 11 message boards about politics on the Island. Although Anthony Manetta, the site's operator, spent "not a dime in advertising," the site has good word-of-mouth, and averages 2,200 visitors a day. That hasn't yet translated into profits for its founder.
Manetta, founder of Lindenhurst political consulting firm Roosevelt Strategies Group, realized the need for such a forum when he was working on campaigns for local politicians and found no place to debate local politics online. While a few local political parties have message boards of their own, none are as inclusive or widely used as lipolitics.com. "If you want your voice to be heard, that's the place to do it," says Manetta, who is 23 years old.
But if lipolitics.com has its fans, it also has its detractors, including many of the political figures who are often skewered in its posts. Manetta never checks the truth of posted messages. A policy notice warns visitors that lipolitics.com accepts no liability for inaccurate, racist, or slanderous messages—or anything else that might offend.
To be sure, the site offers more than just the message boards. There are links to every major and minor local political party, a list of upcoming events, contact information for every level of government, and various other resources, including interviews with politicians by Marty Shwartz, a former journalist and party leader.
But it's the Drudge Report-like boards, where rumor and passion fly high, that draw people in. According to Manetta, the most-talked-about politicians are Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, Nassau Legislator David Denenberg (D-Merrick), New York State Assemblyman Philip Ramos (D-Brentwood) and, at least up until now, Bill Cunningham, who just lost the Democratic primary for Suffolk County executive. Other hot topics include the Farmingville and Huntington illegal immigrant issue and Newsday's reporting.
Because most users post under pseudonyms, they can become especially uninhibited, although the site's operators do "try to keep the civility." Threatening language is automatically removed, as are messages that are reposted in every forum. If an elected official requests that a "thread," or series of posts on a topic, be removed because the information is inaccurate, the site will do so. But sometimes the damage is done.
Recently, several posts alleged that Ramos was facing trial for assault, a charge Ramos emphatically denies. "I haven't been in a fight since high school," he says. After following up on the posted rumor, the Press found that the case in question was in fact a slip-and-fall—a lawsuit filed by someone who had stumbled in Ramos' home. Ramos, a former Suffolk County police detective, says that while it is "freedom of expression that makes this country great," he suggests that the site is a "forum where people can put out misinformation and use [it] for political spin." Ramos says the last time he checked the site was when he was campaigning.
Nassau County headquarters One West Street recently made headlines for blocking lipolitics.com from the server, thus preventing employees from joining the anonymous political free-for-all. Nassau County Information Technology Commissioner Craig Love says the site was blocked because of foul language, not any political agenda, and that Suozzi himself had not requested the block. Suozzi declined to comment for this story.
Legislator Denenberg says, "I can't help what's said about me on that site. I simply don't go on or let people talk to me about it. There's no reason for it." He adds that while he has heard plenty of people talk about the content of the message boards—some of which was true, some not—people who post on the site "might be more than just political junkies." Some can be individuals with a political ax to grind, Denenberg says. He adds that while he never has and never will visit the site, he has been contacted several times by the press regarding information on lipolitics.com.
Reporters from various news sources have used tips found on the site. Both Newsday and Suffolk Life have quoted posts, or at least attributed information to lipolitics.com.
Manetta says he's been threatened on at least five occasions with lawsuits because of the lively political banter, but that none was ever actually filed. With names like WantaghDem, Joe Nassau, Machine Politician and Suzie Q, it can be hard to find out just who an individual poster is.
A user of the site since its early days, Kimberly Wilder—one of the few who use real names—says that the site "levels the playing field." The Babylon resident and board member of the executive committee of the Green Party of New York State describes the site as "the best grassroots device to promote free speech and dialogue about local government issues." She adds that she knows elected officials are watching the site, because when she bumps into them, they comment on her posts. Wilder says she also uses the site to try to round up support for issues or encourage activism.
Ultimately, anonymous messages should be taken with a grain of salt, and sometimes that means salty dialog. If nothing else, lipolitics.com is spicing up Long Island politics.
