Local Media Outlet Plans Local Election Campaign

Sliding through our door on a weekly basis comes the county advertising edition of the Bellingham Herald. Chock full of ads and coupons. Advertising revenue is cake, you know. Slathered with an icing of happy do good stories, Whatcom County eats up, smacks their lips, and goes to bed, thinking that kindergartens and and raspberry harvests are the definition of Whatcom County.

As our family has gotten involved in public policy, I am seeing a different face of the Herald. A seedy, back room, conspiratorial ghoul seems to run the show in the tall building on State Street. And, if you’ve toured the facility, it shows in the bottom line.

Last week I received a letter. It is released on Whatcom Works today. A county resident decided to do work that the Bellingham Herald is too cash strapped to do. Or maybe unwilling to do. These facts need to be kindly and firmly vetted. And, the record of the chairperson of the Whatcom County Council Finance Committee needs to be examined.

Ken Mann needs to have a chance to talk about fumbling his campaign PDC ball. He needs to reassure Whatcom County that the financial hawk is not letting other critical oversight issues fall through his talons.

 Maybe it is an innocent lack of practice. Maybe it is not. First string players that mess up sometimes need a spell on the bench. But the Bellingham Herald is not the “team owner” or the “coach”. They are the megaphone, the game announcer. And the PA system is broken.

It used to be that the media was largely a trustworthy organ in the community body, justifying its existence by publishing stories that benefited all citizens. Not so today.

Weeks  have passed since the Herald was given a lead on a critical piece of information for the Whatcom County Council election race, and no traditional local media have chosen to publish this story.

When a civil servant stumbles, it is not the end of the world! Many political careers are punctuated by dropped balls, missed cues, forgotten promises, tired days in public service, one drink too many before the drive home. A good person will fall and rise again, stronger.

But when the media become unilateral kingmakers, personal character is reduced to sniveling hackery. Why not let Ken Mann stand on his own feet?

Parts of this letter were released on Whatcom Excavator, a local para-media activist site. Ken Mann was very quick to respond with some vindicating information. In the comments section of the Excavator editorial, he points out that even he promptly provided the Herald with his justifications. But the Herald sits like a silent Buddha, smiling—or should I say, brooding over its own political agenda.

We have a Council seat race contested by two younger men. Both have families. Both have businesses.  Ken Mann, however, gets a very large financial lift from sources outside Washington State. Money buys time and service.  Look at his PDC report of donors. With his campaign donations balance, dropping the PDC ball should be less likely to happen. Maybe there is more to this than a simple explanation of forgetfulness. Maybe not.

It is NOT for the Bellingham Herald to play kingmaker. We, the voters, need accurate, balanced information to cast good ballots. If the Bellingham Herald chooses to allow the next door rents of Whatcom Wins and the Democrats and cover up for their candidates, maybe they should close shop for good. Somehow, Pravda in the local media is getting easier to recognize these days.

In a third article in this montage, I link to a Herald report of the recent port commissioner debate hosted by several Bellingham neighborhood associations. According to one source, (I was not present), the Herald reporter left the meeting shortly after the first question, then ran a mocking article of the candidates based on that question. You decide. Is this journalistic integrity? Maybe it is time for a different media business to serve Whatcom County. I think we have a much bigger problem than Ken Mann’s PDC  malpractice.