May 2026 marks the Milton Coalition Blog’s 10th anniversary. This auspicious milestone seems a fitting occasion to reflect on the past 10 years and to discuss the blog’s future. However, before I begin, I am obliged to express my heartfelt appreciation to my readers—Milton’s citizens–for your support and your friendship, which have sustained me. Thank you. My blog’s steady North Star has always been the best interests of Milton’s citizens. Period.
When I first launched the Milton Coalition Blog, my hypothesis—really just a hunch–was that in a constitutional republic, facts and logic—even when wielded by ordinary, lowly citizens such as myself and readers of this blog—would prevail over darker forces ever lurking in politics and government. I further surmised that dependably keeping to the high road would be the best route to defeating self-serving, dishonest politicians and their affiliated Special Interests that were clogging Milton’s low road. However, I realized that facts and logic would not be insufficient; adherence to high ethical standards would not suffice. Rather, it was necessary to reach and organize citizens; catalyzing citizen engagement was essential to effecting lasting change. This required a direct communications channel to citizens . . . the Milton Coalition Blog.
The Milton Coalition Blog has been successful beyond my wildest expectations. The numbers (totals for the past 10 years) speak for themselves (See Note 1).
- 90,000+ views of blog posts/pages achieved through 1) direct blog visits (48,625 views) and 2) emails to blog subscribers (42,000+ views, including forwards to other citizens . . . dramatically increasing the blog’s reach).
- 19,780 direct visitors to the blog
- 799 blog shares on social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, Instagram), steering 2,452 visitors (or 12% of total visitors) to the blog.
- 3,148 click-throughs from the blog to external websites (e.g., Appen Media, Milton Coalition petitions, candidate websites)
- 2,924 video views.
- 2,822 signatures (and 994 associated comments) on the Milton Coalition’s two petitions
These numbers have skewed upward over time, with blog traffic especially heavy during the municipal election cycles. Blog views during the 2023 election cycle (when voters ousted Rick Mohrig) were more than double the blog views during the 2017 election cycle (when voters ousted Bill Lusk).
Clearly, the blog has reached a wide swath of Milton’s voters. However, has this reach translated to impact? Has positive change been effected? I believe the answer is certainly YES—at least, in the context of elections . . . choosing WHO governs Milton.
When the blog was launched, Milton had gone two election cycles without any competitive elections. This apathy was a result of palpable voter disillusionment and disgust with extreme dysfunction within Milton’s city government—a consequence of petty and personal infighting between Milton’s two long-warring factions. Citizens were disengaged and ill-informed; no one was watching the store, with predictable results: council members’ self-interests prevailed over citizens’ interests; arrogance flourished.
In this environment (and often to my amazement), the Milton Coalition Blog emerged as an important instrument of accountability, serving as a government watchdog and especially effective in shaping and influencing elections . . . a beacon of light shining brightly on the doings of Milton’s government and politics. Since the blog’s launch in 2016, every subsequent election has involved at least one competitive race. In two of these competitive races, long-time incumbents (Bill Lusk and Rick Mohrig) experienced lopsided losses. Just as important, four city council members (Laura Bentley, Paul Moore, Matt Kunz, and Karen Thurman) opted not to run for re-election in the face of almost certain defeat; the misdeeds of these four politicians had been extensively exposed at the blog. This phenomenon of not seeking re-election in the face of probable defeat had not previously occurred in Milton. It is a welcome development . . . not quite as a preferable as a competitive election, but nevertheless the result of competitive dynamics and an increased emphasis on accountability. The Milton Coalition Blog certainly played an influential—if not dispositive—role in much-needed turnover at council (although replacement candidates have often been disappointing and sometimes just as bad).
Beside facilitating the exit of wayward elected representatives, the blog has also yielded benefits in the form of policy changes (especially in zoning) and reforms to government’s architecture—for example, defeat of the CSO and banning of community septic (for residential purposes). I will not dwell on these victories. Rather, I suggest readers browse the blog to better understand the Blog’s impact on governmental policy and processes.
Unfortunately, these benefits for the community have often come at a personal cost to me. I have paid a steep price for my citizen/community advocacy. In the past, I have been loath to discuss the personal toll of my involvement in politics so as not to dissuade other citizens from engaging. Rather, a key blog objective has been to encourage–not discourage–citizen engagement. Thus, for the most part, I have quietly borne the burdens of community advocacy.
Citizens might be surprised by the labor (of love) involved in publishing the blog. I have literally invested thousands of hours in my research and writing. Consider the following: Since its inception, I have published 375 posts (and pages), which were crafted using 306,000+ words, averaging 816 words per post—about the length of the typical op-ed piece in a newspaper. Consider that the average non-fiction book is 60,000 to 80,000 words, so the blog’s content would fill 4 to 5 typical non-fiction books. Suffice to say, the MC Blog requires a lot of hard work.
The financial burden of advocacy—out-of-pocket expenditures and even greater opportunity costs–has been significant. I have spent $25,000+ of my own money on my advocacy. This includes $15,000 paid to attorneys to protect my First Amendment rights (of free speech, free assembly, and protest). During the 2017 election cycle, Council Member Bill Lusk and his proxies used lawfare to (try to) silence and discredit me. A total of 3 ethics complaints were filed; two were directly filed by Lusk. These complaints backfired, with Lusk suffering the worst election defeat in Milton’s history (See Note 2).
My out-of-pocket costs have been far exceeded by my opportunity costs. For 2 ½ years, I walked away from my business to focus almost exclusively on community advocacy . . . costing me many hundreds of thousands of dollars. At the same time (and since then) I have witnessed elected officials brazenly and shamefully monetizing their council positions (while on council and after leaving). (For example, since leaving office, former council member Laura Bentley has repurposed her political Facebook page to sell real estate.)
Notwithstanding thousands of hours of labor and heavy financial burdens, the highest costs of the blog have been personal. And by this, I mean nasty (but thankfully . . . wholly unsuccessful) personal attacks–sometimes from the council dais, but just as often in the shadows (for example, posting of anonymous attack videos). Speaking truth to power means that you make yourself a target of Milton’s wackos . . . and there are many. What this lunatic fringe lacks in understanding, they make up for in viciousness. Citizens would be shocked by the many hate-filled communications I have received over the past decade . . . truly vile stuff . . . and always from individuals completely ignorant of the facts and usually incited by current/former elected officials, who trick others into doing their bidding. Recently, I even received an anonymous, veiled death threat (that I turned over to the Milton Police Department).
Fortunately, while the personal costs have been quite high, the personal benefits have been more numerous and greater. Complimentary and supportive communications from citizens have far exceeded the personal attacks. I have made many lifelong friends. I understand myself and my fellow humans much better because of my advocacy efforts. I believe I have made a big positive difference in my community. And my trust and confidence in Milton’s citizens have been bolstered. Time and again, I’ve seen you—the citizens of Milton—rise to the occasion. When required, you have written emails to council, signed petitions, and showed up to speak at council. When presented with facts and logic, Miltonites have consistently elected the better candidates to council (although often the choices are far from optimal and sometimes unsatisfactory). Kudos to you.
So in closing my 376th blog post/page, it seems fitting to peer into the future: Whither the blog? Answer: I will continue to publish blog posts. However, my focus will be more selective. I now live in Alpharetta, so in the future, I will generally not opine on emerging policy issues, unless such issues (if wrongly decided) might have spillover effects in Alpharetta. My intent is to limit my efforts to legacy issues or else to HOW of government gets done—that is, process and principles . . . my passion. I know from my 40+ years of professional experience, good results are only possible through good process and through application of sound principles. Excellent governance (e.g., transparency, accountability, rigor, fairness, honesty) is essential to excellent outcomes. In addition to addressing legacy issues and the good governance, I plan to write the story of my involvement in Milton politics, weaving in lessons learned that would make Milton’s government more responsive to citizens’ prerogatives. The blog has always been about you, the denizens of Milton . . . and always will be.
Thanks again for your friendship and support over the past 10 years,
Tim
Note 1: Included in my blog statistics are numbers for my precursor blog Say-No-To-The-CSO. However, these numbers generally account for less than 5% of the totals.
Note 2: In the 2017 election, citizens rendered a harsh–but just–judgment of Mr. Lusk (a city founder who had served on council for 11 years since the city’s founding). Lusk was handed the worst election defeat in Milton’s history. Lusk garnered the lowest percentage ever (29%) of votes in a local election. Lusk also had the most votes (3,164) ever cast against a candidate in the highest ever turnout (4,442) municipal election (that did not include other ballot items) in Milton’s history. Mr. Lusk blames me, but alas . . . I was just the messenger.
Milton Coalition 