PETERS: It’s folly to suggest an elected official can separate their public and private personas online

Argument #1: that she is not a councillor 24-7, and when she is not commenting on city-related issues, she is free to express herself as a private citizen.

The problem with that is, she may be the only one parsing herself like that.

While the separation may be clear to the tweeter, it is not so clear to every reader – especially if they only know you in the context of your elected role.

Bass says a lot of people know her from the public profile afforded by her previous career, but those former newspaper readers certainly don’t know her as the person who cusses out people with whom she disagrees.

Kamloops councillors have been encouraged to start separate social media accounts to better delineate their public and private personas, but even that is not going to be a complete failsafe.

And this principle is not confined to people with public profiles.

Any person associated with any business or organization who posts on social media will find those posts, consciously or sub-consciously, for better or for worse, linked with those organizations.

That may not be fair or just, but it’s the way it is.

If I tell anyone to bleep off on social media, my boss has every right to tell me to cut it out, regardless if I felt I was acting as an individual rather than as a representative of my employer.

Readers do not make that distinction, so I can’t either.

Argument #2: that she is like this at council meetings, and it’s fine because her colleagues accept it.

Councillor Bass may react strongly to issues about which she feels passionately, but I can guarantee you she has never used the words she used in these tweets at Kamloops council meetings.

Argument #3: that this is how she is, and if people don’t like it, that’s fine.

This is her most unassailable argument.

Some people don’t mind when councillors dispense with diplomacy and make their feelings heard loud and clear, four-letter profanities and all.

Others, of course, will insist that, regardless of the opinion, it’s important that it is expressed respectfully.

Those in that camp will punish Bass at the polls, and she will have no one to blame but herself.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.

by James Peters

PETERS: It’s folly to suggest an elected official can separate their public and private personas online

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