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Boulder council to address stir caused by MySpace page

Ryan Morgan, Daily Camera

Published February 19, 2007 at midnight

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BOULDER - The Boulder City Council on Tuesday will take a crack at the first draft of new rules written in response to a Boulder Human Relations Commission member who put material on his MySpace.com page that elected leaders considered inappropriate.

Deputy Mayor Suzy Ageton and City Councilwoman Robin Bohannan drafted the new guidelines after commission member Rob Smoke caused a stir last year.

City officials found the page after receiving a complaint from a MySpace user who said Smoke made a salacious comment about her.

The page featured Smoke's picture, captioned with his own version of the Doors lyrics: "I'm tired, I'm hungry, I'm horny, I'm stoned . . . and I'm a city official."

Smoke also made references to drug use and to getting arrested in New York City.

"The Human Relations Commission does do some very good things - and if you have a complaint about human relations in the city of Boulder, please call me, so I can come over and beat the living bejesus out of you - (just kidding)," he wrote.

Ageton said the City Council hopes the new rules, to be considered for the first time Tuesday, give people who serve on boards and commissions a clear idea of the behavior that's expected.

The rules are meant to address statements that people like Smoke make in their capacity as a part of city government.

"We're not trying to regulate anyone's personal life and what they do there," she said. Instead, the rules are meant to address their behavior and speech when they are conducting city business, she said.

A board or commission member who fails to abide by the rules could lose his or her seat.

Ageton said trying to figure out whether Smoke would have fallen afoul of the rules had they been in place - and whether he could have lost his seat as a result - would be "speculative."

But, she said, if the City Council had decided to take action in response to the MySpace.com page, "There would have at least been that notice about what's expected. The rules we had weren't written down - they were unwritten assumptions."

Smoke said he thinks the rules are meant to stifle dissent.