Friday, August 12, 2011

Who is Otis Rolley?

If you're following the Baltimore mayoral election, you've certainly heard of Otis Rolley. He's making himself about as high-profile as you can. You can follow him on Twitter. He's been interviewed on radio stations. He's everywhere!

When I first heard of him, I Googled his name. I found his Wikipedia page, so I naturally read it. Normally, someone unassociated to the person writes an objective article about politicians. However, this article is so professionally written and glossy, I am confident that he wrote it himself or had someone write it for him. It is more subjective than objective. The article glamorizes the wonderful things that he did as a city planner. How does a former city planner get a Wikipedia page? The rules of Wikipedia state the a person must be notable. I don't think being the director of a planning department makes a person notable. If he gets elected as the Mayor of Baltimore, I think that would justify him getting a page, but until then, not so much.

So in order to spare you from the self-aggrandizement, I'll highlight some of the items.

He participated in Model Program, a series of challenging classes at Lincoln High School in New Jersey. Who cares? Nearly everyone who grew up in the surrounding counties of Baltimore participated in some sort of advanced classes, be they GT or CM or whatever was in fashion at the time. And who would know this other than him and his parents? And who would care - other than him and his parents?

He received the Buttonwood Scholarship. Everyone knows what that is, right? Yeah, me neither.

At the age of 25, he managed 100 employees and a $1 million budget. Okay, this is impressive, but is it Wikipedia-worthy? I really don't think so. This should be on his campaign website, not Wikipedia.

He notes when Martin O'Malley was elected mayor, then Governor, as if that is uncommon knowledge and important to his biography. Mr. Rolley, we all know when Marty got elected and followed up with massive tax increases.

Rolley managed the urban development and local government reform sectors of the Urban Policy Development (until recently). That solidifies it. If I lived in the city I'd vote for him because of his involvement in the urban development and local government reform sectors. Does this even warrant being on a resume'?

His Wikipedia page also notes that he is active on Facebook and Twitter. I'm starting to think that he is using his Wikipedia page as a free election website.

I'm sure Mr. Rolley is a nice person with great intentions, but this is total abuse of a free website. I invite the Wikipedia world to edit this page and bring it back down to Earth. This nonsense must be stopped!

3 comments:

Chris said...

If a certain comic likes him enough to do a 4k a plate dinner then he must be ok. Let's see if he goes door to door with him!

coco said...

what do you think constitutes the conditions for being featured on wikopedia? My friend, a starving artist, has a wikopedia page.
Anyway, I will vote for Otis because a city planner by definition is a visionary, a buisnessman, an organizer, a leader. He visualized plans and realized them, made decisions and ran buisness in the city of Baltimore.
These are to me the pefect qualities and perfect experience for a future mayor.

Eludius said...

Thanks for your comment, Mr. Rolley.

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