GO Getter: Jason Wert

Springfield's most talked-about new blogger dishes on his special brand of conservatism, local politics, and City Council.

Last September Jason Wert, a 39-year-old father of two who recently quit the radio industry to work in tech support for a local software company, started covering Springfield City Council meetings at his blog, Life of Jason, becoming a go-to source for city news. With political season upon us, we sat down with Jason to talk about the state of politics and blogging in Springfield

So why did you start going to Council meetings in the first place?
My grandfather taught me that if you’re going to be a resident of a community, you have a responsibility to be a part of the community. And the only way to do that is to get involved. You can’t make a wise voting decision unless you look at the issues.

What did you think of Council initially?
I’ve seen other local media and talk shows that are, shall we say, less than complimentary to our staff and officials. I walked in expecting to see somebody like a little dictator with his group of minions, but it was completely the opposite... I posted my thoughts and got quite a bit of response to it.

Why do you think there’s been such a response?
Obviously people out there want to know what’s going on, but they’re doing something else.

Do you infuse a lot of opinion into council posts?
I try to be as impartial as possible when I’m writing it. If I make a personal comment, I’ll put it in parenthesis.

You’re a self-described conservative, right?
I’m an independent conservative. I despise the Republican party, I despise president Bush’s policies. A few years back there was a push to give blanket immunity to drug companies if vaccines were proven to cause autism. The administration brought in lawyers to file briefs in support of this. I have an autistic son. I’m not saying I would sue, but I also don’t think if drug companies are responsible they should be given a free pass… At some point I pretty much said that’s it with Republican party.

You wear your son’s autism and your passion about it on your sleeve, and blog about it often… you say you get derogatory comments about that?
Yeah, one comment after I appeared on TV said “Your son’s a retard because his dad’s a retard.” All sorts of comments… people just attack my Christian faith and say “the reason your son’s a retard is because you support this.” Almost like it’s fair to attack somebody’s family.

Do you make money from your blog?
It’d be nice. I do it because I feel that this is just a way to share what I’ve learned. I was trained in journalism, so it’s easy for me to just write a story when I see it happen.

You’ve had some blog back-and-forth with Vincent David Jericho, right?
Vince and I have had disagreements on things. He’s got his detractors, but he has done some good things for the community. Just because I disagree with the way he handles political issues doesn’t mean he hasn’t done good things for the soliders and their families here in our community.