Why would a New York congressman destroy his political career in pursuit of sexually charged online texts? Local political observers give a range of explanations, ranging from views of gender differences to historic misbehavior by men in political power. What do you think?

Rohnert Park wants to be your friend. But it wants to stay tightly in control of the relationship. It’s trying to develop a policy governing how city officials and staff use social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

Technology can make government more transparent and accessible. But it has turned the old business model for news organizations upside down, PD columnist Pete Golis notes. For publishers, the challenge is to create revenue models capable of supporting quality news products. Are people willing to pay for serious journalism?

For most Sonoma County political campaigns four years ago, Twitter and Facebook weren’t even in the playbook. Today those social networking sites are almost an imperative, and not always for the better, campaign consultants and candidates say.

Supes candidate Debora Fudge is getting dogged on Twitter for taking $1,000 from developer Larry Wasem. The criticism isn’t that Fudge’s slow-growth principles are getting co-opted by a developer’s money. Instead, it’s about a more obscure topic — the timing of the donation and Wasem’s role in the upcoming closure of the Rialto Theater. Fudge says she didn’t know about the Rialto connection when she took the money.

Wineries and their distributors are fighting over a bill in Congress that would limit court challenges to state alcohol laws. Rep. Mike Thompson says the bill could “devastate” the wine industry. North Coast wineries are using social media to organize a counter-attack.

Most vintners have long insulated themselves in a no-political zone. But Dario Sattui is no ordinary vintner. Read PD wine columnist Peg Melnik’s take on the controversy ignited by Sattui’s comments on firefighters’ pay and benefits.

Napa winemaker Dario Sattui angered firefighters with written comments critical of their pay and benefits. Now he is at the center of a growing Internet-based confrontation with public safety employees and their supporters.

Napa Valley winemaker Dario Sattui responds to the outpouring of negative reaction to his criticism of firefighters’ pay and benefits. “My concern is strictly with budgets, not with the firefighters themselves,” he says.

Do you know this Napa Valley vintner? His letter to the editor about firefighters’ wages and benefits ignited a firestorm on Facebook and Twitter over the weekend. Angry North Bay firefighters and police officers are now encouraging supporters to boycott his wines.