In the interest of disclosure, I’ve posted my profile on Bleeding Heartland…and I’ve disclosed who I work for.  I work in the office of Rep. Kevin McCarthy – Majority Leader in the Iowa House.  Why do I disclose?  Because it’s ethical and because I’m honest.

Generally, I limit my posting to forwarding on press releases and information about what is going on in the Iowa House.  I’m not here to propagandize or hide who I am.  You won’t find me waging battles in the comments or posting anonymously on Krusty Konservative.  With full disclosure I give you the ability to critically evaluate the information I provide and understand who my boss is.

It seems that some bloggers on the right & left have failed to live up to what I see as an ethical obligation.  There’s a post at the NY Times Caucus blog all about it.

The article talks about recent dust-ups in both Republican and Democratic camps:

Far beyond the political sphere, the latter are commonly known as “sock puppets,” people who use aliases to post comments, posing as people they’re not. There have been a few dustups in recent campaign seasons with staff being exposed as “sock puppets” by anonymously writing comments on blogs and websites that were either boasting their candidates’ merits or slamming opponents.

I personally take the call to “not be a jerk” very seriously.  Bleeding Heartland can be a forum for the future of online progressive activism in Iowa and I welcome everyones participation.  Read the NYT article.  It’s illuminating – and might give you some insight on the discourse that will inevitably arise on this site.