Springfield Journal Register

Doug Finke

Statehouse Insider

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Scoring points

Secretary of State Jesse White announced a new PickaPlate Web site where people can select vanity and personalized license plates. On the site you can search to see if the plate you want is available. It's a lot quicker than the old system where you had to request plates by mail.

The site proved to be a huge hit with one reader who saw the story on the Springfield State Journal-Register Web site, www.sj-r.com. So much so, the reader submitted a computer comment to appear with the story online.

"This is great!" said the commenter. "Have you tried it yet? This new site is so slick. I used to live in California and they offered this service online for a long time but it's not as good as this PickaPlate. Great job Jesse!"

Wow, talk about an enthusiastic response. But, then, what would you expect from White's office? Yes, it turns out the writer sent the message from a computer in the secretary of state's office. Presumably, the writer is a White employee.

A White spokesman insisted the office had nothing to do with it.

"It was not a comment provided by White or anyone from his administration," said spokesman Randy Nehrt. "All secretary of state employees are free to provide their feelings on policies in the office, whether positive or negative. It might be better if they did it on their own time."