Fly-on-the-wall, creator, writer, and publisher of "Daily Davenport Politics", calls it a day

The industrious blogger known as "Fly-On-The-Wall" has decided to throw in the towel and is turning out the lights on his popular Daily Davenport Politics blog.

A post on the blog yesterday afternoon stated simply:

There's a lot I could say. I'm going to stick with just three quick thoughts.

Live Rule #3.

Thank you.

Good night.

The Fly

"Rule #3" refers to one of his house rules for the blog which states, "I believe in the notion that we can disagree and yet be able to sit down, share some beer, and enjoy each other's company. Try to act like you believe in the same notion, even if you don't."

The Fly started Daily Davenport Politics about a week prior to the launch of this blog, and he provided consistently thorough and in-depth coverage of all things to do with Davenport city politics. It was truly a great service to the citizens of Davenport and was successful in enlivening the debate as well as getting all sides to participate, including politicians and candidates themselves. (a fact I've always envied)

Daily Davenport Politics attracted other committed and talented bloggers and for a time it was a group effort before The Fly decided to go it alone again a month or so ago. Since then a few other blogs have been spawned by the former collaborators, undoubtedly due to The Fly's lead.

He posted an item about the city budget at around 10:00 yesterday morning, then at 3 p.m. posted his farewell. No word as to what, if anything, prompted his decision to throw in the towel, though it's certainly not hard for me to understand how someone could become burnt out and simply not want to deal with the hassle and stress any longer. The costs are many and the benefits few.

I hope The Fly is leaving for greener pastures and I wish him continued success. His contribution to local poltical discussion will be greatly missed by many.

NOTE: The Fly's demise is mentioned in the Dispatch at the bottom of a story about cracking down on gay sexual activities on Credit Island.

It mentions The Fly's proposed "Rule #3" party. This was his promise, that if he was able to get committments from all alderman to attend, he'd organize a gathering at Mac's tavern and reveal his identity. (Did I mention he's (HORRORS!) anonymous?)

According to the report,

After Wednesday's meeting, aldermen were supposed to meet the writer of Daily Davenport Politics, a Web site/blog at www.qcdavenport.blogspot.com, at Mac's Tavern.

The blog author - known as "Fly" -- has remained anonymous, but had agreed to reveal his or her identity to current and incoming aldermen and the mayor if all showed up. But since at least one didn't go to the tavern, "Fly" didn't show up.

What were "Fly's" alleged last comments were posted at 3 p.m. Wednesday. The blog will continue to remain online for a couple of weeks and will be removed afterwards, "Fly" said on the site.

As an aside, I hope readers of DDP will find items of interest here. If you have any suggestions regarding issues or news on the Iowa side of the river, don't hesitate to bring them to my attention. (e-mail link is in the sidebar) I'm more than open to suggestions on how to broaden the focus here to include more on the Iowa side of things.

While I couldn't begin to provide the thorough coverage you've come to expect from DDP, I would like to give equal attention to both sides of the Quad Cities, in particular the Iowa Governor's and 1st District races.