'Long Diatribes' From Darien Critics: Mayor

DARIEN, IL – Darien Mayor Joseph Marchese on Thursday denounced what he considered misinformation about the city government on social media.

This comes a week after he rebuked an alderman for a Facebook post about a police meeting.

In his weekly message in the city's newsletter, Marchese said people accept critiques on social media as reality.

"It is as if someone, for whatever reason, feels the need to 'hijack' the public perception of another individual," Marchese said. "As a public official, I see evidence of this every day, as critics of me, the city, or our staff post statements that have no basis or truth to them."

He said the city holds public meetings, puts out weekly electronic newsletters, posts meeting agendas and minutes on its website, and makes staff available by phone or in person.

At the same time, he said, "there are individuals who will still try to garner public attention by taking to social media with long diatribes criticizing an elected official, city staff or the city's operation."

Marchese said he lets most misstatements go by without a response. But he said sometimes the statements are so faulty and bordering on slander that he believed a response was necessary.

"This is my way of working to define myself, our staff, and our city," the mayor said. "In an era where the public has a cynical view of elected officials, we do ourselves a disservice when we allow severely misleading statements made by individuals who are either misinformed or purposeful in their intent to harm the reputation of another individual to control the public forum."

He added, "If we do not work to define ourselves, there will be many people out there who will work to create a vision of us that is far from the truth."