Gotbaum TV: Mold

Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum continues to be a pioneer, among local officials, in her use of YouTube.

Here's her latest video, which splices shots of her press conference about household mold with an interview with two women affected by the problem. (Title screens, even!)

Granted, it's not necessarily saying much to suggest that this means of distributing message puts her out in front. Other local officials have toyed with the idea of distributing their own video footage. An aide to Christine Quinn was seen earlier at press conferences with a camcorder; Charlie Rangel's spokesman, Elbert Garcia, films his boss and even uses a tripod. Some staff members email links to their boss's debates on the floor of the State Senate. Etc.

And I'm sure there's other stuff I'm missing. But it's still something of a novelty for now.