Surprise: The nanny state isn't very transparent

It's been three days since news of Michael Bloomberg's latest anti-gun ad campaign broke, and unless they get back to me within the next hour or so, it'll be the third day my requests for comments from the New York City mayor's office have gone unanswered.

(Image: YouTube)

While many people watched the videos of a supposed gun owner advocating for limits on the 2nd Amendment and noticed his amateur gun-handling skills, I was looking for answers to more basic questions -- questions the spokesman for Mayors Against Illegal Guns wasn't prepared to answer over the phone.  You know, hard-hitting questions such as:

1.) The name of the gun owner in the ad;

2.) The gun owner's state and/or congressional district; and

3.) The name of the company who produced the ad.

You'd think these pretty basic questions would have relatively simple answers, but when I asked Bloomberg spokesman John McCarthy, he told me he'd need more time to look into them.  That was Tuesday.

On Wednesday, I emailed and called McCarthy again.  I also called the office of Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who co-chairs Mayors Against Illegal Guns with Bloomberg.  Menino's press spokesman declined to comment and directed me back to Bloomberg's office.

It's nearing COB today and I'm still waiting for word from McCarthy after having again phoned the mayor's office this morning.

Work in journalism and politics for a while and you'll quickly come to understand that people who specialize in "press relations" do little more than dodge questions from the press until the news cycle spits out the next remotely interesting story and people move on.

Unfortunately for Bloomberg, I'm like a dog with a bone -- I'll be in touch!