Daily Herald opinion: Mixed-up messaging: Another politician, another social media gaffe

Too often when politicians get on social media, the cautionary tales practically write themselves.

Case in point: Only the most malevolent of Mayor John Laesch’s detractors would really think his Facebook post last week was intended as an open invitation for Aurorans to indulge in dangerous, illegal fireworks. After all, Laesch, who was elected Aurora mayor this spring, supports the city’s “If You Light It We Will Cite It” campaign, and has passed out fliers explaining both the dangers and the fines involved for getting caught with fireworks.

He took to his “John for Aurora” Facebook campaign page as the Fourth approached to specifically discourage residents from shooting off illegal fireworks. “Fireworks could potentially start fires, torture dogs and other pets, harm veterans who have experienced combat, and they could cause serious injuries,” he wrote.

But then, he added this: “If you already bought your fireworks, I would suggest using them on July 3rd while police are busy handling traffic from the city-sanctioned fireworks display.”

When your messaging isn’t clear, you can lose control of your own narrative pretty quickly. In record time, Laesch’s message lurched from the sober “fireworks in inexperienced hands are dangerous and troublesome” to what sounded like, “Here’s a helpful hint from your mayor on how to avoid a citation.” A small firestorm quickly engulfed his post, with former mayor Richard Irvin and other critics saying it was insulting to Aurora police and foolhardy to suggest that residents playing with illegal fireworks is somehow acceptable.

Later, Laesch would say it’s a fact of life that Aurora residents bought fireworks and intended to use them despite the city’s efforts to discourage it, so he was hoping to contain their activities to a few days. Even if that’s what he really intended, it shoots wide of anything approaching leadership, since “Let’s just get this over with” hardly passes for responsible public policy.

And now he’s being deluged by the predictable fallout, full in the knowledge that his posting also didn’t move the needle on the illegal fireworks in Aurora in any meaningful way. Call it a lose-lose.

Since the dawn of the social media age, politicians have been tantalized by its possibilities and less sure of the pitfalls. Today’s climate is more unforgiving than ever. Social media is a valuable, direct conduit for public figures to tell their constituents who they really are and what’s important to them. Moreover, by reporting facts honestly and accurately, adept civic leaders use social media to build a following and train constituents to come to them in a crisis. But in inexperienced hands, well, social media can burn its user like a 2,000-degree sparkler.

We’ve all posted something we’d give our pinkie finger to take back. Most people in public life eventually abandon the idea that holding public office is a license to say whatever thing comes into your head the minute it occurs to you. They learn that their words matter more now, given the responsibility that comes with the office they hold.

Nor will people forget — social media has a shelf life of infinite proportions.

That's all the more reason to think about what you really want to get across in a general sense; to use your messaging to promote a theme that defines you and your leadership; and to hit “delete” on more than half of the missives you write before they see daylight.

It’s early in Laesch’s tenure. He’ll be back on social media, hopefully a little more measured. Meanwhile, the rest of us can consider this another cautionary tale.