No, he didn't try to make me pay for excess pavement, his apparent favorite method of payback, but rather arbitrarily decided to shun an entire news organization.
I was working as an intern for Oshkosh News, trying to get Esslinger's opinion on some random story about the Common Council. Instead of answering a few simple questions, he told me that he would have no contact with the entire organization due to a beef he had with the executive editor.
Apparently the editor in question had written an editorial (go figure) about Esslinger, to which he took great offense. This gave him the go-ahead to shun anyone affiliated with our entire organization.
Now that I look back on it, how many times has the Northwestern published something he disapproved of? Once or twice a week, at least. He even makes it a point to use his position in city government to publicly rail against the city's primary news source.
Now Esslinger has announced his so-called "media days" at the beginning of each month. This, of course, means that he will be a guest exclusively on two radio stations, one of which he works for and the other one supported his campaign.
Being a reporter is tough enough, but it doesn't help when a public figure refuses to play ball. Embracing a battle of words every time someone in the media critiques you seems a little immature for the mayor of a medium-sized city.
Come to think of it, this humble blog post is fairly critical of Mr. Esslinger. Do you think he'll scorn me? Never mind, it's too late.
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