Jay Lassiter used to write Internet posts flecked with
profanity that lacerated New Jersey lawmakers. He
described the actions of one legislator as
"nincompoopery" and called another "a bully." Last
fall, he accused Mayor Cory A. Booker of Newark of
"pimping" for Joseph I. Lieberman, the senator from
Connecticut.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the State
House, which Mr. Lassiter now covers as a blogger. "I
don't find myself launching firebomb campaigns
anymore," Mr. Lassiter admitted in a recent interview.
"This whole exercise has kind of mellowed me out.
These people in here, they seem like they're doing
their best."
For a blogger, a pastime normally associated with
unbridled zeal, it is an intriguing evolution. Mr.
Lassiter, a 35-year-old former tennis instructor from
Cherry Hill, was selected in April to become the first
State House correspondent for the liberal Web site
Blue Jersey and the first blogger to cover the
Legislature. But last week he hit his first rough
patch when the state police stripped him of an
identification badge he had been issued in April,
citing "security issues."
Officials said there was nothing in Mr. Lassiter's
background that prompted the reversal. Rather, they
said that they had decided to limit the number of
badges issued to Capitol visitors and that his had
been approved by mistake. "Some time ago there were
questions as to whether too many people had gotten
access to State House ID's," said Sgt. Stephen Jones,
a spokesman for the New Jersey State Police.
Mr. Lassiter - who has never applied for press
credentials from the New Jersey Press Association -
said he was told by the police that he did not qualify
for an identification card because Blue Jersey did not
have an office here. He can enter the State House to
conduct his reporting, he said, but instead of
circumventing security and metal detectors with an
official ID, he must be issued a visitor's badge.
The new crop of blogger-reporters - they have also
cropped up at the capitols in California, Tennessee
and Georgia, among other states - have made
legislators and journalists wary. Some of them do not
consider bloggers worthy of credentials.
"A lot of these guys are fairly partisan, so I have
concerns about opening the full membership to people
who are not in a traditional sense objective
reporters," John L. Micek, the president of the
Pennsylvania Legislative Correspondents' Association,
told State Legislatures magazine in January.
The last day of New Jersey's legislative session, June
21, provided a buffet of news for Mr. Lassiter, who is
paid what he describes as a "very unprogressive
salary."
The end of the session was hurtling to a close, with
200 pieces of legislation in play, including measures
on the state budget, global warming and bans on
smoking in casinos, as well as confirmation hearings.
"What a juicy day at the State House," Mr. Lassiter
said. After rifling through a stack of news releases
in a windowed nook under the rotunda, Mr. Lassiter was
off to the confirmation hearing - laptop computer in
hand - for Stuart J. Rabner, Gov. Jon S. Corzine's
choice for chief justice of the State Supreme Court.
Mr. Lassiter was a one-man production crew. Before the
Senate Judiciary Committee session began, he snapped
several photographs and immediately uploaded them to
the Web site.
He provided frequent updates on Blue Jersey- including
the high point of the morning: questioning from Nia H.
Gill, a state senator from Montclair who had stalled
Mr. Rabner's nomination for a week without
explanation. "Nia Gill Speaks (Finally)" is how he
headlined the post, describing her actions as
"Garboesque." The post got 15 comments from readers,
more than usual.
At one point, Mr. Lassiter nodded toward Senator
Joseph M. Kyrillos Jr., a Republican from Middletown
whom he described as "a pretty groovy guy." And he
said he chose State Senator Thomas H. Kean Jr., a
Republican from Westfield, as the site's Best Dressed
Male Legislator. "Which just shows that we don't mix
politics and fashion at Blue Jersey," he said.
Juan Melli, 26, the founder of Blue Jersey, which has
raised nearly $10,000 for Democratic candidates since
its inception less than two years ago, said that he
decided to assign a correspondent to the Legislature
because the state does not keep track online of
individual votes.
"He makes it fun to read what would otherwise be a
totally boring milieu," Mr. Melli said of Mr.
Lassiter.
Mr. Lassiter, who graduated from Towson State
University in Maryland, more or less stumbled into his
current line of work. He said that he was laid up
after rupturing a tendon in 2005 while playing tennis.
With little to do, he started reading blogs and went
on to create his own about state and national politics
and the Iraq war. Mr. Melli took notice after Mr.
Lassiter posted a piece on New Jersey's proposed
moratorium on the death penalty.
Mr. Lassiter, who has lived in New Jersey for six
years, said he is fascinated by the state and its
politicians. "New Jersey does have a kind of grotesque
je ne sais quoi that really appeals to me," he said. |
