By Mark Fischenich

MANKATO — Even as a student decades ago at Mankato State University, Tom Maertens felt a compulsion to express his opinions to a broader audience.

Maertens’ only real option for doing that back then was through the MSU Reporter student newspaper, where he worked as an editorial writer. His ensuing career forced him to muzzle himself a bit.

The Mankato native and Loyola High School graduate spent the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s working for two U.S. senators — one Democrat and one Republican — and for the U.S. Foreign Service in embassies all over the world, finishing his career in the White House as a counterterrorism specialist.

After retiring in 2002 and moving back to Mankato, Maertens began feeling the need to speak out about what he saw as troubling developments in national and international politics. Unlike a working person who has to worry about what bosses, clients, co-workers and customers might think of his politics, Maertens was free to offer unabashed criticism of government officials.

“I don’t have any of those worries,” Maertens said. “I can write what I want.”

For a couple of years, he followed the traditional approach — submitting columns to newspapers and doing radio interviews about the Bush administration, the war in Iraq and the fight against terrorism, among other things.

But there’s a new route for trying to persuade a mass audience, an option few people even dreamed of back when Maertens was writing for The Reporter.

Web logs, or blogs, allow anyone with a computer and Internet access to regularly share their opinions with anyone who cares to take a look. Maertens and local writer Leigh Pomeroy had talked on and off about creating a blog of their own, and this month they launched it.

Vox Verax, Latin for “truthful voice,” is already full of strong opinions from Maertens, Pomeroy, Joe Mayer and guests. Targets so far have been almost exclusively Republican.

Pomeroy said he hopes that isn’t always the case.

“I want to bring in all kinds of writers,” said Pomeroy, who like Mayer is a former Democratic candidate for Congress. “I’ve invited (Republican state Senate candidate) Mark Piepho to contribute if he wants to. We want to have a number of points of view — not all of them we’ll agree with.”

Pomeroy and Maertens said their main criteria for posting a piece on the blog will be fact-based arguments and clear writing.

“We’re not a Democratic blog,” Pomeroy said. “We’re not a progressive blog.”

Still, Pomeroy and Maertens concede they’re concerned about the current leadership in Washington and would like to spur average Americans to become more politically active.

“We want to aim to persuade by putting forward what we feel are the facts,” Pomeroy said. “People can read it and decide for themselves. Hopefully, that will cause them to take action.”

Maertens doesn’t consider himself liberal.

“I’m a fiscal conservative and have been for a long time,” he said.

But he believes his experiences overseas gave him perspective about what made America great and about the dangers of unchecked power in the hands of a central government. He also makes arguments about the corrupting influence of money on the political process and the long-term risk of a large national debt.

Each piece includes an opportunity for readers to comment, something which hasn’t happened yet.

“I’m interested to hear how people react,” said Maertens, who has no expectations for what sort of impact Vox Verax will have. “It’s out there for anybody who wants to read it. No arm-twisting.”

The blog can be found at www.voxverax.blogspot.com.