It is certainly unwise for municipal government to compete against private enterprise. The Albert Lea city government is selling advertising, and it needs to stop.

If City Hall sold tires, what would tire dealers have to say? If City Hall sold gasoline, what would the gas stations have to say? If City Hall sold groceries, what would grocery stores have to say?

They wouldn’t like it. They would want the unfair practice to stop.

A Web site is a form of mass communication media, the same as a newsletter, newspaper, TV or radio broadcast. There should be no advertising on government Web sites. For the past six months on the city government’s Web site, when users click on “Watch our community videos,” a window pops up with the logos for 12 local companies, and when users click on the logos, it leads to the Web sites of the companies.

Selling advertising competes against local media, such as this newspaper, the Freeborn County Shopper, radio stations, TV stations and billboards. The city even had a sales pitch in the form of a letter, dated March 12, 2007:

“Dear Albert Lea Business Owner:

“The city of Albert Lea was recently introduced to an exciting new technology that is sure to have a tremendous, positive impact for promoting the public and the private assets of our wonderful community. We have accepted the services for, and will participate in, a three-year promotional campaign conducted by CGI Communications Inc.”

The letter goes on to explain the online videos will showcase local attributes, and it is signed by City Manager Victoria Simonsen.

Would she write an endorsement letter for the Tribune and each of the local media outlets, too?

What’s just as awful is that these videos were not locally produced. In fact, some of them use stock footage, with no local scenes. Surely the city could have reached out to a local video expert, such as Matt Levorson or Stephanie Passingham. Why get duped by a company from New York state?

Last week, in a story in the Albert Lea Tribune, the city spokeswoman said city officials are unhappy with the videos and don’t intend on renewing the three-year contract, which started in March 2007.

If the city wants to sign a contract for videos, that’s fine. Just do it without selling ads. And how about looking around for local talent first?