Holding officials accountable with new promise meters

If you’re a regular reader of PolitiFact, you know that we’ve got lots of meters. Besides our well-known Truth-O-Meter, we’ve also got the Flip-O-Meter, the Obameter and the GOP Pledge-O-Meter.

The Obameter was our first promise meter, tracking the pledges that President Barack Obama made on the campaign trail. After we launched it in January 2009, we realized that we could apply the same approach to the campaign promises of virtually any elected official.

Since then, seven of our eight state sites have introduced promise features on the governors, such as the Walk-O-Meter, tracking the promises of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, to the Linc-O-Meter, for the pledges of Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee.

Today, we’re introducing our newest promise meter, the Buck-O-Meter, which follows Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn. It includes an interesting mix of promises ranging from offering an ordinance on panhandling to improving bike safety.

The Buck-O-Meter, like similar features that track local officials in Cleveland and Milwaukee, show that our approach can work as well at City Hall as it does in a state capitol. Watch for more meters in the future!