May 19th, 2009 
joel When we talk around here about politicians and other public figures leveraging the new media, we’re not exactly talking about this. Anthony “Buzz” Andrezeski, in his run for County Executive, has turned to talking to the voters directly through Christian Lestat Bussiere and his Spotlight TV.
Both the content and the context of these videos have become the biggest controversy of today’s Municipal Primary election.
Even though our media-saturated culture isn’t shocked by too much we view, it was a jaw-dropping moment for me when in a video supposedly created to “stand up” for county controller Sue Weber, Andrezeski repeats a rumor about Weber and her private activities that supposedly came from the current County Executive, Mark DiVecchio. Beyond the salacious, what Andrezeski is talking about in the at least nine videos are rambling accusations, alleged conspiracies, and nasty name-calling.
Here’s one of the more tame videos, where Buzz answers his critics from the media and blogosphere:
Then there’s the context of Spotlight TV, where the open to most of the videos is a loop of a clip from the drunk Erie Cop video to the tune of “do the spanky leg.” Citizen journalism is new to Christian Lestat Bussiere, whose YouTube user name is “ErieParties“. He’s more comfortable as a Jeff Spicoli wannabe sharing his weekend exploits than trying to be the next Carol Pella.
Buzz said that he wanted to reach out to young people, to a new audience to make his case why he should be the next County Executive. Dude, this is not how you do it. He could have created his own YouTube channel, had a friend with a camera help him make quality position videos with good sound and no profanity. He could have Twittered before each public appearance and Facebook friended the entire county.
Yeah, whatever.
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[...] at Press and Tower takes a deeper look at the election, specifically the Buzz videos, which have become the story of this election. Joel [...]
One quick call to Alyson Amendola cleared away all the crap from Andrezeski’s babbling rant. She asked Sue Ellen Pasquale, Mgr of Finance, to send me all details of the funding for the Fifth Floor renovations. The facts completely debunk Buzz’s fairy tale.
The best thing Andrezeski can do for the County is to Buzz off.
Dale is exactly right, but where did you see the information he just provided other than here or on his own blog? Answer, nowhere! Perhaps, it its own way the media was helping Buzz to remove DiVecchio, just without mentioning it. You have to admit, the media played up the trash, but didn’t do a very good job of debunking the charges Buzz made. They were pretty much left standing.
After all the debate we had about county bond issues, what was included and wasn’t, how Joe Giles plays the king maker, etc, we really haven’t had much analysis about the aftermath of the bond, how it got used, etc.
Nor have we seen much of an accounting on the financial performance of either the convention center or the hotel, both attached to county bond issues.
On the other hand, given the play the video got, one can rest assured this will become the new attack mode, driving the level of election discourse even further down into the dumpster.
Maybe its just me, but elections should be more than just a revenue stream to media.
I’m sure the 911 debacle also played into DiVecchio’s demise. All he did, along with Weindorf, was smoke and mirrors. I think the voters saw through all the lies and incompetancy from 6th St. and up on the hill.
I wonder how much of the “911 debacle” was the result of upset union dispatchers who were displaced. Seems to me the problems are no where near what was described by some.
Crank, I’ve talked to a lot of the people I use to work with on the FD side and they tell me that the ECDOPS operation is a mess. The whole thing could’ve been done very smoothly by incorporating the experienced dispatchers from the city and Millcreek, but the county didn’t have the smarts to use them. They could’ve merged them under their current emlpoyers, and then through attrition, phase in the new people as county employees. The county lost years of experience when they let these people go and as a result public safety has been compromised. The consolidated dispatch center is a grand idea and it’s time has come, but it needs to be done correctly…not haphazardly with lousy planning and an unproven system.