This morning we launched WikiMeg, the first open source, political research site of its kind – open to all, by all and for all. At Level The Playing Field 2010, we are embarking on a bold new experiment in democracy. (Check out this morning’s front pager in the Chronicle here)

We hope the WikiMeg space will serve as a digital laboratory for free speech. It’s based on the idea that by harnessing the collective brainpower of millions of Californians, we can help level the playing field against Meg Whitman’s $200 million television campaign.

We are asking everyone and anyone with factual information to share – from laid off eBay workers and those frustrated with Whitman’s eBay policies towards sellers to shareholders to regular voters – to help us fully vet Meg Whitman’s job application.

And as the campaign goes forward, we’re asking you to help us track what she says, where she says it and make sure it is correct. And if not, we’ll – well, you actually – will call her on it.

Help shed light on the choices Whitman made and the values she demonstrated over a lifetime in the corporate boardroom. Together we can get to the bottom of what Whitman is hiding by refusing to release her income tax returns as nearly every other gubernatorial candidate has done for the last 30 years.

Of course, free speech and civil discourse go hand in hand. We are asking all those participating in WikiMeg to help set an example for how virtual tools can promote genuine democracy. Please be respectful to others. Be factual and always hyperlink to your source. If you are the source of first-hand information, say who you are and how you know what you know.

Here’s how it works:

All pages on the site are open for public editing and the community of users will also review them. If you have information that you would like to share about Meg Whitman, please feel free to edit the pages where the information is categorized or to post new information.

Each page has its own discussion tab where comments and thoughts can be left in a threaded discussion style forum. Live chat is also available for real time conversations.

The initial categories are eBay Stories, Meg History, Meg Sightings, Meg’s Campaign and Videos.

Thanks for participating in the democratic process. Have fun and good hunting…WikiMeg

(Ah, eMeg… – promoted by Brian Leubitz)

Forget the fact the Whitman does not take questions from the press. Forget the fact that she almost never appears at event that is free and open to the public. Forget the fact she is spending millions and millions of corporate dollars to craft a perfect "made for TV" image for the voters that we are supposed to buy, no questions asked.

Remember this: paying someone $3 million dollars for "campaign consulting" and then having them appear in your TV ad as a nuetral 3rd party validator is beyond the pale and not acceptable.    Not too mention – everyone else in the spot used to work for her and made millions of dollars during the dot.com boom as well. Where's the validation in that? How about someone from a charity you helped fund or create?  

If a politician put one of their staff or former staff in a commercial telling people how great they were – it would be roundly criticized and then some. What's the difference here?    

Judge for yourself. Below is our version of Meg's new TV spot with a little truth in advertising. After you watch the video, remember to post it to Facebook or twitter and share it with your friends – we may not have $150 million but we have a lot of friends we did not pay for.