Council candidate removes anti-GOP message from Web site

By PAUL DAVIS
Journal Staff Writer
Friday, October 1, 2004

NORTH KINGSTOWN -- Under bipartisan pressure, Democrat council candidate Jonathan Bertman yesterday halted an anti-GOP message on a Web site some candidates say is misleading.

Bertman, a Democrat, used a Republican-sounding address -- www.nkgop.com -- to route visitors to his home page, which included an attack on the Republican-heavy Town Council.

He changed the site Tuesday night, after meeting with Democrats. It now includes a link to the local GOP home page and an explanation.

But yesterday, John Henseler, chairman of the Democratic Town Committee, blasted the earlier Web site and said Bertman acted without the party's knowledge.

"In no way does the Democratic Town Committee condone Bertman's actions, and we have asked him in no uncertain terms to immediately take it down, along with any links to the Democratic Party."

"I'm disappointed they decided not to stand up for me," said Bertman, a family doctor who lives in Saunderstown. "I think they were more worried about political fallout."

Angry over GOP policies, Bertman last July bought the nkgop.com address. Initially, he routed site visitors to the Democratic Town Committee's home page.

Last Friday, however, both Henseler and Joseph White, a Republican lawyer, asked him to stop.

Bertman agreed. Instead, he routed visitors to his own campaign page, which includes photos of Bertman, a plea for money -- and an attack on local GOP leaders for high taxes, drinking water problems and "incompetent oversight of the school budget."

Bertman yesterday said it was never his intent to mislead voters. The revised site now includes e-mails from both supporters and critics.

"While I received many positive comments from those coming to this site and reading my personal views regarding the failures of the NK GOP (and, in all honesty, I received plenty of negative ones, too), both the Democratic and Republican candidates for Town Council have requested I take down the site to avoid detracting from discussing the real issues at hand," says the new message.

"So as much as it pains me to hold off on exercising my right to free speech, in the interest of not allowing the real issues facing our town to get clouded by who should be allowed to post what and to where online, I've decided to remove my diatribe for the time being."