It's been more than a month since the lazy, sunny day when Maxwell Austin settled onto his porch in the Old West End and persistently heckled Toledo mayoral candidate Ben Konop.
Mr. Konop handled the awkward four minutes as best he could while Mr. Austin engaged in oddly low-key heckling that mostly centered on his saying, Boo. Boooo. Boo, Ben Konop. Liar in a monotone while intentionally mispronouncing the Democratic candidate s last name.
Both guys forgot about it pretty quickly after a day or two, and life moved on. Neither was aware that their chance encounter would blossom into a minor Internet sensation, with a WTVG-TV Channel 13 news photographer s video of the event gathering more than 100,000 hits on YouTube.
Since then, their run-in has been the subject of CNN reports, Comedy Central gags, and nationally syndicated sports radio talk-show hosts. Mr. Konop is hearing from law school buddies whom he hasn t talked to in a decade, and Mr. Austin is trying to use the exposure to jump-start a career as a stand-up comic.
Such is political campaigning in the Internet age, when all it takes is for someone like Joe Wurzelbacher in Springfield Township to question then-candidate Barack Obama about his economic plan last year.
A few thousand hits later on YouTube combined with intense media attention not to mention both Mr. Obama and John
McCain mentioning him in a televised debate and Joe the Plumber was born.
The media are so saturated with orchestrated political news events that the public loves it when things go awry in an unscripted manner, Matthew Donahue, a pop culture instructor at Bowling Green State University, said.
I think people just get a kick of out of seeing the average Joe, if you will, kind of go after the politicians and maybe try and get the politician s feathers riled up, Mr. Donahue said.
Although, I would say to his credit, Konop actually handled the situation fairly well in that he didn t go off on him.
The real reason
The encounter occurred in late June when Mr. Konop and some of his supporters called a news conference in the Old West End. He set up at the corner of Parkwood Avenue the street on which his mother grew up and Winthrop Street with some of his supporters.
The location was directly in front of Mr. Austin s apartment. Various media have reported that he was upset that one of Mr. Konop s associates stepped on his garden, which is not true, Mr. Austin said.
The real reason I booed and said liar is because there are several points and issues that have come up where Ben has said one thing and then turned around and did another thing, he said.
His main problem is with Mr. Konop signing an ethics pledge in 2006 in which he promised to serve the full duration of the Lucas County commissioner seat he holds. If he is elected mayor in November, he would have to give up the county post before the term expires.
That right there was pretty much the main point of the [word] liar, Mr. Austin said before adding that he would treat any of the other mayoral candidates the same way.
If [Keith] Wilkowski signed a pledge and backed out on it, I d boo and hiss him too, he said.
Mr. Konop has said that when he signed that pledge, Toledo was not facing a high jobless rate, a foreclosure crisis, the threat of police layoffs, and a large deficit. He has said that he believes he made a bigger promise, which is to fight for positive change and he s the best candidate to do it.
Staying on message
For his part, Mr. Konop never lost his cool during the encounter. He tried to laugh it off, tried to wait Mr. Austin out, suggested that Mr. Austin talk to the news media after the news conference, and eventually decided to move the event down the street.
Mr. Konop said that although he d never been heckled like that, he had watched how former President Bill Clinton handled someone who interrupted his speech at Emory University. He said the former president was cordial, but he stayed on message.
I think the best thing to do is not be confrontational back, Mr. Konop said.
He said dealing with hecklers often goes with the territory of running for a high-profile office such as mayor. I really wasn t embarrassed. I think I handled it as best I could in an awkward situation, he said.
It s part of the risk of putting yourself out there in public. If you do it, there are people who are going to boo you, and there are going to be people who cheer you.
Unscripted event
WTVG-TV photographer Chris Gieorowski shot the video and said he didn t think much of the incident after it happened.
Neither did Mr. Konop, who said, I forgot about it after a day or two.
But as part of the station s policy of putting online video pieces that are too long for the regular broadcast, Mr. Gierowski posted the video on the blog of another photographer, Justin Billau.
The video was linked on the WSPD-AM 1370 Web site but didn t gain traction until it appeared on YouTube and became the subject of news reports on CNN and a reference on Comedy Central.
On Aug. 4,, Steve Czaben and Scott Linn on nationally syndicated Fox Sports Radio discussed the YouTube video and then worked boos into their broadcast.
Mr. Donahue, who lives about a block from where the heckling occurred, said no one is sure why some videos go viral, noting that everything from a boy playing with a Star Wars light saber to a cat playing the piano can take off on the Internet.
The appeal in this case, Mr. Donahue said, is the unscripted aspect of life and how things just happened, because I m sure Ben Konop didn t plan on this guy heckling him.
The aftermath
The fallout has been interesting for both men. Channel 13 staged a beer summit in which Mr. Konop and Mr. Austin met and discussed city politics over a beer.
Mr. Austin has gotten a taste of what it s like to be in the media spotlight, noting that he s taken a lot of good-natured grief from friends because he s been repeatedly referred to as a landscape architect.
I am by no means a landscape architect. I mow lawns. I plant things. I do other stuff. I am one step above a groundhog, he said.
He moved to Toledo in 1999 after growing up in a small New York town and has lived here on and off ever since. He loves the Old West End and said he s taken a passing interest in local politics, especially jobs and empty businesses in the inner-city area.
But unlike Mr. Wurzelbacher, who thrust himself into the national spotlight on the side of Republicans, Mr. Austin said he has no intention of becoming more politically active. He has never voted in Toledo, but said he plans to register to vote in the mayor s race, although he would not say who will get his vote.
But he is trying to use the attention to focus on his aspirations as a stand-up comedian, filming video shorts with a friend to put online.
Mr. Konop s reaction to the interest in the video is both bemused and philosophical, noting that he s happy to see the mayoral race receive national attention.
I think overall, it s best to remain as poised as possible and try for a more toned-down dialogue, he said. And if that doesn t work you just move a block away and keep going.
He also bears no ill will toward Mr. Austin, agreeing to participate in the beer summit and have his picture taken with his antagonist.
I ve got to give him credit. He was very persistent and on message during the heckling, Mr. Konop said.
Contact Rod Lockwood at:rlockwood@theblade.comor 419-724-6159.
First Published August 11, 2009, 5:44 p.m.
