For the second time in recent weeks, I have been asked what my interest was when engaging a politician in a line of questioning. While one would think that the job description of a newspaper editor — almost by definition, a professional pot-stirrer — would answer the question before it is asked, nevertheless, the question continues being asked.
So, before I get into sharing a bit of information gathered this week and clearing up some issues and false claims, for future reference, let me answer that question. m
First: It’s my job. I am a journalist, which means that my job is to ask questions and find answers for our readers. I cannot say that everything I write about is of equal interest to me personally, but if it is important to my readers, then you can bet the farm it’s important to me professionally. om
This leads into the obvious question of what is important to our readers and what do they find interesting, and the answer to that is a moving target. However, some stories are always going to rise to the top. Co
For instance, I anticipate this week’s edition will sell out at most locations, as there is the follow-up to a particularly heinous crime on the front page. While I wish that good news sold as fast as the bad, that simply is not the case. & C
However, it was not the questions posed regarding this article that caused me to be asked of my interest. What prompted the tables to be turned, and for me to answer a line of query, was when I began asking why Stonewall County omitted the Aspermont City Council’s request for a quarterly report from the sheriff’s office to show the number of calls the department responds to within the city.
Given the fact that the city had just agreed to cover the $58,000 cost for a deputy’s salary and benefits under the justification that the county needed the additional employee because of the number of calls the city generated, I found this to be a reasonable request. The county felt differently.
Why?
The official reason given to city officials was that the sheriff could not be forced to comply with providing the report, which in my opinion is laughably incorrect. Do they truly expect us to believe that this interlocal agreement has the power to compel the governing body of an entire city to pay $58,000 annually, but doesn’t have the power to make another official in return supply information that his department already compiles?
So, I called and asked, and while Sheriff Mullen admitted that he would not be willing to generate a separate report that listed only calls within the city, he was not opposed to sending the department’s logs, which lists all calls the department receives. He also said that when he got his staff back up to normal, he would be willing to supply this newspaper with the information for publication.
The kicker to the story is that no one at the county level even bothered to ask. They just said, “no.”
This is a second reason for my interest. It has been my experience that politicians often stand upon their raised platforms, preaching about government accountability and the desire for total transparency. That is, right up until the public expects them to provide it, and those same politicians sing a different tune.
Enter the local news editor. You, as citizens, taxpayers, and readers of this publication, want to know the answers to questions. I want to make sure you get them.
So, I will climb atop the political pedestal and as ask those in power the questions they don’t want to answer, and I will get down in the mud with the attorneys that run interference in the efforts to perpetuate the informational shell game.
Sometimes I will win, and sometimes I will lose, but since I only charge a dollar a week for my services, I would think it’s a pretty good deal. So, dear readers, you keep buying them, and I’ll keep writing them, and as long as I sit with a typewriter on my desk and a press card in my hand, I will be there, showing my interest and asking questions as a matter of your public interest.