(March 25. 2007) -- It's been a little over a month since a former aide to former Councilman/former Mayoral candidate Frank Colonna and another fellow who did webwork for Colonna's campaign and separately for the LB Area Chamber of Commerce launched a website.

We suspect that it will eventually turn into a foghorn for Mr. Colonna's future political plans (which we believe include running for state Assembly) and other likeminded policies. We're not surprised it's now dispensing what we consider a lot of puff/junk news and vanity writing...while providing continued name recognition to Mr. Colonna as a featured columnist.

So...does the outfit follow the political world's "let the suckers figure it out" standards or treat LB news consumers with respect?

One of our readers asked the website operators how they got hold of his email address in the first place. Here's the non-responsive response he receieved: "We have collected email addresses over the years from various contacts during our involvement in Long Beach."

That's interesting...because a number of our readers who got the publishers' out-of-the-blue emails indicated they don't recall having had any personal emailed encounters with either one of the two publishers. Some wondered what we had to do with the emails (we weren't involved).

And that was just for starters. Here's more:

• A feature article appears on "A Day At The City Prosecutor's Office" office written by Noel Hacegaba. The publishers don't tell their readers that Mr. Hacegaba is in fact the public information officer to City Prosecutor Tom Reeves. "Every member of the Long Beach City Prosecutor’s Office is dedicated to improving the quality of life for everyone who lives or visits our city," the article assures readers.

• An article appears regarding a mural painting at 7th/Orange...but doesn't tell readers that photos in the story were provided by a city agency that arranged the event. [We and other media outlets routinely run City Hall-provided photos...and routinely identify the source for readers.]

• 6th district Council candidate Al Austin holds a press event and posts video of it on "YouTube.com." The website then hyperlinks to the video as "news" without telling readers that its source was a political candidate's campaign.

Earlier this month, we'd seen enough. We requested (and the website agreed) to stop linking to LBReport.com's news coverage. We're not mad at them; we just don't want what we do confused with what they're doing.

Some people fill Las Vegas clubs to see people dressed up as Elvis, not the real thing but an amazing simulation.

We think LB news consumers deserve more...and with your support (thank you) LBReport.com will continue to provide it.