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Sims to leave NCJ
The shake-up at the North Coast Journal just got shakier.
Publisher Judy Hodgson insisted last week that Sims’ removal from his job as editor of the alt-weekly was a reorganization rather than a demotion. But this new development shows the transition isn’t going so smoothly.
If Sims’ popular Town Dandy column continues to exist, it won’t be in the NCJ.
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The Humboldt Herald 
Bad move Judy
Yeah. Bummer.
While I don’t always care for Sims smarmy attitude and his tendency to obsess over certain causes I will miss his insights and writings. For me, he’s much of what makes the Journal the Journal.
I won’t miss Sims or his column in the least.
The NCJ tanked with Sims at the helm.
Perhaps it can recover SOME of it’s credibility and significance with his departure.
That’s a bummer (assuming it’s true). Sims really jazzed up the NCJ and made it more interesting and entertaining.
While I have liked and disliked some of Hank’s journalism, after Tom’s interview on KSLG I am not sure he will be better for the Journal nor the readers. Likely, this transition will be ongoing …
What Now said it. Sims brought the Journal down,his judgment was, to put it mildly, poor.I’ve been hoping for a long time that Judy Hodgson would stop defending him and get rid of him. His biases smeared over the whole paper. If he didn’t like a letter it didn’t get published. Although a long time Journal employee has told me that Sims didn’t tell writers what to write I will never believe that Kieth E’s coverage of the recent Navy meeting was not strongly effected by the hand of Sims.
Say it ain’t so!
Moving from Arcata to Eureka was mistake number one.
Could it get any better after that?
Who’s next?
I always read Town Dandy first. You are going to be missed Hank.
I felt that the Journal got more boring and less relevant under his editorship. Much less serious investigative journalism, much more titillating pop candy, like the article on the woman who liked to dangle by hooks.
And the Town Dandy? Yawn.
Hank brought some interesting voices to the Journal. I wonder how the ed staffers are taking this.
Views here are pretty split. Perhaps its a question of whether the Journal is mostly “entertainment” or more serious “news”.
Try pronouncing “Journal” with a faux Scandinavian accent so that the initial “J”sounds like “Y” and roll the r a teeny bit and what does it sound like?
I love Pee Pee Ca Ca jokes. More please?
I know one, The Northcoast Poo-Poo! That’s a good one!
(GigglegigglegiggleGiggleGiggleGiggle)
I second what Goldie said.
Good riddance. Hank was entertaining, but lacked journalistic integrity. I wish she’d bring back Keith Easthouse, the best editor the NCJ ever had.
No!!
Ever since Hank got hold of the reins, there were a whole passle of stories deserving coverage, letters deserving to be printed, and issues needing to be brought out of the dark that Hank refused to acknowledge. His agenda was all to obvious and while I consider myself a progressive/liberal, I want more balance and not a brown nosing sycophant leading the NCJ.
Translation: Humboldt Politico couldn’t keep his diatribes to 250 words, so they never got printed and he’s been smarting about it since. Thank you Hank for not treating the print edition of the Journal like a blog.
Brown-nosing sycophant? Humboldt Politico is nuts.
I’ll forget the Dandy, but I remember Keith Easthouse. His Journal stood for something more than a naughty stylebook. I’m with the Challenger.
But sometimes Hank’s column was great. And when he reported in it, as on the dead railroad and the dream port, he was still the good reporter I imagine Judy thought she hired. But with so much attitude to go around in Humboldt, his didn’t bring much to the Journal. Because there just wasn’t much behind it.
A good measure of perhaps Judy’s influence not Hank’s is what the Journal did with its occasional real stories. I consider its trademark to be teapot-tempests like Richard Salzman typing pseudononymous letters to the editor at 3 in the morning, which the Journal considered a crime on a par with violating the Brown Act–another obsessive accusation.
But when the Kode Kops made more than 20 people homeless at gunpoint on phony charges at Yee-Haw, and the Journal covered the story well, there was no follow-up at all. Supervisor Jill pretended she didn’t read it or hear anything about it. It took people on the other side of the county to make the Journal’s own cover story become an issue. That’s the Journal at its best. Now to you, Tom.
Hank should hook up with his old buddy James Faulk and they could share some post employment war stories and just kick it together.
It’s amusing how everyone is suddenly an expert on journalism.
No doubt Hoover would be happy to print Hank’s column. Those two are PERFECT for each other! Maybe Hank can throw his own fundraiser just like Kevin did, if he can’t make money as a writer either.
You have to wonder what kind of “ownership” deal he and his co-workers got exactly, back when Judy cut them in on some shares. Based on her recent comments, not enough to effect any decisions.
But why’s he been so silent on the blogs. It’s not like Hank to not have something snide to say. Of course I haven’t check in the Mirror yet, I’m sure that’s where he’d have the most support.
Tom is a glass half-full kind of guy with his eyes on the future, not the negativity of the past. The Yee-haw story? Nah, that’s a downer dude! What’s that guy’s name who cut down those trees on that slope on that Indian burial ground thing? He must have a one sweet view of the baby blue Pacific to go through all that trouble. Call him up. Let’s do a photo spread this week!
Ahh, the Hoover hate brigade. If that’s the caliber of person tearing down Hank, then Hank must have been doing something right.
longwind = windbag
Viva Sims!
change is good.
Hey, I thought we were here to bag on journalists, not bloggers! I’m a pseudononymously protected species.
I only read the Dandy… and those cute little Mielke funnies.
That is so sad!
For all his liabilities, Hank will very much be missed by the reading public of Humboldt.
Comparing him to Hoover is just silly. Hank is not deranged, not obviously incompetent as a journalist and editor, and actually paid attention to some important stories.
But Easthouse is clearly still missed, and I know he’s back in the neighborhood.
Karma is getting the media industry right now as a whole, imo.
Changes are a coming, so time to get those digital transmission towers (repeaters) up all over the rural place. Overhead costs are too much as well for the old archaic news…….even blogs are probably more popular than news papers, mags and more…just sayin that keeping a job in the media industry, like others, is a rough go and maybe it has to do with people overdoing it when the times were tooooooo good(set-up) and guess what, costs still have not gone down but a meager 1/64th of an inch when compared to a toothpick reality of prodding cost basis’. Hank may find it greener as maybe the downfall at the NCJ continues….who knows economically right now with balance sheets and all of Humboldt media busineses.
Maybe local blogs and journalists can pony-up dinero (money) and rent a printing press co-op…like the restaraunts due with the commisarry idea.
Jeffrey Lytle
McKinleyville – 5th District
I always enjoyed the Town Dandy. While he was a liberal, Sims was not always predictable in his POV.
“But Easthouse is clearly still missed, and I know he’s back in the neighborhood.”
Keith Easthouse: probably the best the NCJ has seen. BRING HIM BACK!
He got canned in the midst of the PALCO era, because he had the courage and integrity to tell it like it was.
Agreed, Hank did a pretty good job exposing the absurdity of the NCRA and delusional plans to make Humboldt Bay a major port for big shipping and cruises.
Thanks for that, Hank. But he really lost his objectivity when it came to certain people and could not overcome his pettiness.
I can confirm earlier postings that Hank would not print a letter if he did not agree with what it said. I sent them, others I know sent them. They followed all the guidelines, they only expressed opinions Hank opposed.
Tragic flaw. Hank will land on his feet (with a thud, no doubt)
Does this decision relate at all to the appearance of Mielke’s most recent cartoon in the Journal? If the new editor saw Joel’s unsympathetic portrayal of himself, surely he realized the old editor had slipped it into the Journal. At that point, the thin-skinned new editor blows a gasket, leaving Judy only one choice. To give Hank the boot. This account does not purport to tell what actually happened, only what might have happened, based on the known facts of the case.
But (Hank) really lost his objectivity when it came to certain people and could not overcome his pettiness.
I just assumed it was the bowtie that set him off.
I know that everyone here knows a lot more than I do about the newspaper business, but it appears that the NCJ has way more ads than it ever had in the past. There are pages and pages of big, giant ads. But, yeah, blogging is where you make the big bucks. They should close down that rag and just use their blog.
After the radio interview I thought Judy had only one choice — give Tom the boot and beg for her staff’s forgiveness.
I wonder where this leave’s Tom’s heralded ‘hybrid journalism’ if the brain has left the building. Hiring a techie, let alone a techie with a journalism background, will be mighty expensive. Methinks we have witnessed the Journal jumping the shark. Don’t blame the Internet on the demise of news publications. Blame foolishness and stupidity.
They are both excellent journalists, Hank and Kevin. They got your attention, and mine.
I’d hire Hank in a heartbeat, but I fear my lucrative web advertising profits will go to pay for non-recreational Internet access from my ISP seeing as how bloggers should be paying for a business tier of services. Excellent article. Many a reporter would have massacred such a complex story.
Jack, you crack me up.
Whatever happened to Rosemary?
i was talking with mike ( who ) jones today, and he said bad day in OK Corral…unless he wants to move on, that is…What a great investigative reporter and commentator….no fear…gotta love it…out
So if the Journal moved to Eureka, and Eureka moved off the map to the right, and Hank is toast, will Peter Hannaford take over as Town Dandy?
The King is dead. Long live the King.
I think Jeff Lytle hit the nail on the head. Being that the print media are dead, the local blogs should join forces, create a cooperative and start a joint print edition. Hannaford could serve as the editor, which he would excel at assuming he doesn’t have to do anything, like layout pages, edit, etc.
Wonder Blogger powers, activate!
Hank was an indispensable journalist, and his contributions to the discourse of Humboldt County politics will be a loss for the community, whether you agree with his analysis or not.
And these comparisons to Kevin Hoover I think are accurate, because Hoover is just as indispensable for Arcata. And both Hoover and Hank have garnered their criticisms and outright hostility from people who don’t like getting called out on their shit, or don’t like the stances both take on issues…but at least there are those in the media in Humboldt willing to do that, to whatever end.
Drinks in honor of Hank tonight.
Easthouse has run some pieces in the Independent recently…I’ve been wondering if he IS back in the neighborhood.
Haa Hah!
-Nelson from the Simpsons
Hank is a good guy at heart, perhaps a little more worn and torn than he should be for his age, cynical and sarcastic, comically biting at times, overly biased and misinformed at others.
Abate had a rough landing, but who wouldn’t get annoyed at that pissant interviewer? “Did Hank’s face go white when you told him?” Gimme a break.
Ok, now for the next phase. Best wishes to you Hank, I was hoping it was true you were staying on in a new capacity but I’m not surprised to hear it’s not so. Here’s to whatever is next.
It seems the way this new hire went down was particularly disrespectful to Hank. The whole deal is baffling.
Hank, you’re bad-ass dude. Best of luck.
I read all of the above posts and agree most with Longwind and Remembrance of Things Past.
Hank is an inarguably great writer, but those of us who have read virtually every issue of the Journal since it started back in 1990 seem to agree that its best days were when Keith Easthouse was editor and Hank was just a writer. After Hank became editor he seemed to get more snide and petty than he had been previously. Someone who wrote in a manner that exuded this incredible sureness that his political analysis was the ONLY reasonable analysis. When answering to a strong challenge, Hank seemed never able to admit he was wrong, and tended to end up trying to belittle his opponent in a way that didn’t reflect well on Hank himself. As my wife once said with magnificent brevity after finishing reading one of his retorts: “That guy must have a small dick!”
Good luck to Hank! I’ve read him only randomly, as of late, and regret that. I didn’t always agree with his view and felt his cynicism was a bit contrived/over the top at times – but also believe this will leave a void in the local journalism community. I guess I’m one of those people who’ve contributed to the demise of local print media. I hope “the Dandy” is able to stay in the area and find a new outlet for his voice.
At first I felt overjoyed…
I mean after all, when someone with the power of Hank Sims goes after local environmental groups and “ists”, that person becomes your natural enemy. Assuming that YOU are concerned about our planet and the future of so called “civilization”…
But I remember when I thought Hank was the shit! In a good way. I enjoyed his rants when they were directed at those who deserved them, especially right wingers.
But over time, you could tell he was becoming jaded and even narcissistic. Maybe it was from his job or maybe it was having to deal with flack from his readers. He started going after…well…pretty much everyone!
It can happen to anyone in a position of power like that. Maybe that was his big mistake.
I was happy to hear that the NCJ would have a new editor a week or so ago. I thought “Wow, now Hank’s number 2.” Or 3, I don’t want to speculate on office dynamics at the NCJ.
But my question is did Hank quit because he couldn’t handle being #2? Or did the NCJ phase him out?
Either way, I hope that he has something else lined up.
And regardless of how I feel about Mr. Sims, I don’t like to see anyone on the street. That’s Kevin Hoover’s job ;)
Jeff, Hank didn’t change. You’re just an extreme individual. The world reacts to you the way they do for a reason. And, when reporters don’t tow your line, that just means they’re doing their jobs.
I always thought him to be a bit weird.
Well said 6:30
The Town Dandy and Joel’s cartoons are the only parts of the NCJ I would read consistantly. I wish Hank all the best.
Muskrat hit the nail on the head.
You all are nuts. Sims was horrible in all ways. It’s so sad when all the locals say he’s so good. While the non-local transplants are scratching their heads. We’ve seen a hundred weekly newspapers of the same circulation and coverage area that are leagues above even the “best” NCJ work. Sims and his tiny gang of wannbes are no more than sad attempts to be the epitome of local hip elite of the journalism field. How can they do their jobs when they spend all day trying to be cool?
The real reporters are the ones at the daily news agencies (not just the T-S) battling insane workloads and real deadlines and a public that doesn’t care about how staff and budget cuts have crippled their ability to do their jobs.
If MY wife had said something as superficial as that small-dick comment, I’d be embarrassed to admit it. (Of course, I have a small dick.)
“We’ve seen a hundred weekly newspapers of the same circulation and coverage area that are leagues above even the “best” NCJ work.”
Really?
Sour grapes.
plainy, there is room for a daily newspaper and its style of journalism and for an alternative weekly, and its style. These are bad times for journalism in general. I don’t think it’s good for any community to lose journalist, especially one as well-informed as Hank.
The only parts I read are the Dandy and letters. The feature stories are long-winded. The event calendar went south a long time ago.
But if Locoabate will write a column, I’d totally read it, dude! A guy who talks in sound bites has got to make for some great schizophrenic reading.
Hank was petty, mean, vengeful, spiteful and unfair (his last hit on his blog was worthy of a lawsuit). Kevin is deranged. You’re right that there’s a difference, but they share the fact that neither maintain professional standards and both lack journalistic integrity. I think they are both find as columnists where they can wield their opinions with out bothering to fact check, they just have no business being editors. With any luck, Hank will leave town.
That Jack Durham thinks Peter Hannaford would be a good choice as editor says volumes about Jack.
What’s the name of Hank’s blog?
The Humboldt Herald
Let’s put this in perspective. It used to be amusing to read Judy’s yearly reports on her difficulties joining the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, which saw nothing alternative about her paper but its publication schedule. And when Keith made it into an actual alternative weekly, we assume that’s what he was fired for.
Hank obviously learned the lesson. It would be grand to have an alternative newsweekly up here. What they are is the occult information 10:04 alludes to. It’s a terrible shame that Judy thinks the recipe for success is cautious mediocrity with annoyance sprinkled on top.
Real alt papers annoy with their reporting, not their graphic attitudes. Judy clearly thinks we’re too small-town to risk giving readers in-depth reporting on issues the dailies don’t touch. Alas, it’s her paper.
Therein lies the problem. The Eye excels because Hoover owns the paper and doesn’t have an owner stressing “cautious mediocrity.” I love that phrase. It captures the old Journal so very well. Unless Hank has the capital to start up an alternative weekly (alternative in the national sense, and also an alternative to the Journal), I fear the Eye is our only alternative news publication left.
What will ‘Heraldo’ do for a day job, now that he can’t play at being being Hank/Heraldo i.e. one man with two identities having an incredible knack for scooping breaking news…
11:41,
A swing…and a miss.
Angel asked, ‘What’s the name of Hank’s blog?’
Decline to State responded, ‘The Humboldt Herald’
In 2009, Mr. Sims wrote:
“…I still have fun with Heraldo, but I don’t know who she is. If I do find out — and if, as I suspect, she is someone who is already a political player — then you, dear reader, will be the first to know… I’m trying to get at something deeper: What does the post-newspaper world look like here in Humboldt County? …this is an even bigger story.”
Our host H responded, “Hank… is itching to out Heraldo. Make of that what you will.”
The fact that Not Bob doesn’t understand Mr. Durham’s facetious comment “says volumes” about Not Bob.
Not-Bob:
This line ought to have been a tip-off that Durham’s comment was in jest:
Being that the print media are dead, the local blogs should join forces, create a cooperative and start a joint print edition.
See what he did there?
Comments are correct about Sim’s bitter personal prejudices and the slanted reporting it produced, his rebuttals to Ken Miller and Neal Latt read like petty, groundless, personal attacks. After the 2008 election Hank wrote: “Linda Atkins came from nowhere with a command of the issues and no money”, in fact, she shared a $60,000 campaign fund, well-paid consultants, and she held a seat on the county democratic committee.
One of the most valuable articles the NCJ EVER published was John Osborn’s “Interested Parties” exposing, for the first time, how the local development community outspent and won all their candidate in 2010, a censored reality for decades, with few exceptions.
Will there be follow-up, BEFORE THE NEXT ELECTION?
“Community media”?
Nearly every measurable category of our economy, environment and society remains in free-fall decline while the Dow-Jones and the bright-side of America’s strength and prosperity is relentlessly repeated.
Today’s complaint-free media and its optimistic bias, holds much responsibility for American’s mass delusion and cult of cheerfulness, reckless optimism, and a massive empathy deficit.
I think Kevin H is an incredibly clever writer. As a person, he is sensitive and caring, has his priorities in the right place.
Indeed, instead of forging human interest stories out of Humboldt’s homeless every few years, the NCJ and TS should leave the safety of the homeless camps and enter the vicious battlegrounds of developer’s lairs: Our public GP hearings, commissions, elements, workshops, et al.
Most citizens have no idea who’s running this county and how they’re subsidizing high-profit developments being approved, or how this manufactures more poverty.
bummer. hank is a good guy and a good writer. yeah, the ncj’s news coverage was pretty lame at times, but it was still more enjoyable to tread the ncj than the sub-standard or the god-awful arcata eye. and as far as hank and kevin go, hank is a real journalist who has integrity. kevin is a mean-spirited hack who wants to be a big fish in a small pond and be some sort of crusader. i knew hank sims, and let me tell you mr. hoover, you’re no hank sims.
This has been an enjoyable thread. Aside from the good humor of Tra and others, I was intrigued by AMM’s comment and that of Anonymous here leading me to look up the aforementioned October 2010 “Interested Parties” NCJ article by John Osborne here and the local development community.
Concerning Eureka, Mr. Osborn wrote:“…Marian Brady (candidate for City Council from the First Ward), Frank Jager (candidate for Mayor) and Mike Newman (Third Ward) all raised nearly four times the amount of money as their opponents…(and) pledged not to take more than $500 per contribution this year…”
“The 17 financial benefactors who gave to those three above candidates are…: S&W Properties, Lisa Slack and Slack Family LLC, Robert Barnum and Barnum Timber, Kramer Investment Corp., TJS Leasing and Holding Company, Harvey Harper, C.P.A. John Fullerton, Glenn Goldan and ReProp Investments, Maxine Maples, Hilfiker Pipe Co., Eureka Oxygen, Shaw and Peterson Insurance (Newman works here), Lundblade and Company, and Rob McBeth, owner of O&M Industries, through the Humboldt Builder’s Exchange PAC, which he chairs…
“All told, Brady has raised $19,440, against Glass’ $5,169; Jager has raised $16,616 to La Vallee’s $5,133; and Newman has raised $16,497 to Kuhnel’s $4,384.”
The reader may wish to read the article further for larger money pearls on the County level. The comments were also interesting in part.
Skippy,
You should find out the real facts before encouraging the misrepresentations of others. If you check the final filings you will find that:
Paul Gallegos outspent Allison Jackson 3-2
Peter LaVallee outspent Frank Jager
Mike Newman barely outspent Ron Kunhel
Cleary and Sundberg spend almost exactly the same as did Neely and Bass.
Yes, as a relative unknown, Brady did have to out raise well known incumbent Glass to win by the largest margin of any Eureka race.
The big difference between your report and the truth is huge last minute contributions that went unreported.
As you can see, Hi Fi never left, his stink is all over 7:58, same argument, same language, same spin. HiFi already conceded this argument when he renamed developers: “The job creation community”, as if they merit domination of campaign financing.
A good follow-up to “Interested Parties” might dare to actually expose what those interests are: the massive public subsidies to continue an unsustainable model of growth that has placed 80% of local homes beyond the reach of the local residents, the same residents who subsidize these homes via higher sewer bills, higher taxes, higher rents, a community saturated in poverty-wage jobs, over-capacity roads, decayed sewers, and streets unsafe to walk, bike or drive…LONG before the economic collapse!
With dozens of city council candidates elected in the last 25 years HiFi could only name 6 campaigns that won without the backing of the development community. Out of those 6 lucky candidates, Leonard and Kerrigan HAD the developer’s support for one of their terms!
Travel the world and it’s the same sad situation.
Outspending your opponents 4 to 1 until the near-end of a race is a formidable and historically successful reality. Exceptions are extremely rare. Any casino that rigged the house for victory would soon lose participants…no wonder half of America’s eligible voters abstain, no wonder the 5th Ward went unopposed.
IT’S RIGGED!!!
I’ve lived here many decades and no local media has ever dared to investigate the story exposed by John Osborn.
KUDOS!!
John Osborn for editor!
Judy is trying to kill the Journal so she can sell it’s assets and take more vacations. Abandon ship!
Hold on to your seat Skippy. Citizens United is just getting started. Every election that matters will now be bought and paid for out of petty-cash.
This decision will be seen in the future as the day democracy ended in the US. It’s over Baby.
Yeah, we got your “Jobs” right here; as long as your willing to auction yourself to the lowest bidder against the desperation of “Third-World” workers.
Once the Minimum Wage is abolished, we’ll see the return of manufacturing to America.
I’m sorry but the reporting on who donated to whom is interesting but it was the low-hanging fruit. Anybody can get a copy of the FPPC filing reports and report the numbers. Get real.It didn’t take courage or investigative reporting to either assemble the info or publish it.
Rose,
Then why is it so rare that numbers like that get published in the local press?
The Dandy was the only reason I picked the NCJ up at all. Judy made a great mistake w/this pompous Abate joker, what a loser.
Misrepresentation between the truth and the report? That’s a matter of opinion.
A ‘real difference between reporting and the truth’ and ‘the huge last minute contributions unreported’ not wholly contained in the FPPC as John Osborn reported here are noted:
“…The tens-of-thousands of dollars doled out by Security National to launch a Get Out The Vote campaign for Measure N was also an indirect mobilization for the slate of candidates who rallied behind the issue: Bass, Marian Brady, Mike Newman, and Frank Jager. They enjoyed, essentially, about a $30,000 campaign infusion of advertising each as a result.”
“This brings us to another major reason for the sweep this season: money. There is no doubt that a handful of business interests in Eureka colluded at some point in the election to pool their money together and financially prop up a slate of candidates that included the above mentioned, (and Jackson, Sundberg, and Johanna Rodoni for Assessor). Much of the financial support came from allies of Rob McBeth, who has ownership interest in O&M Industries and the Humboldt Builder’s Exchange non-profit. The hundreds of thousands of dollars injected to these candidates secured their financial superiority, and an effective propaganda campaign distracting their eye-widening fundraising habits by attacking the (other) candidates…”
Remember, this isn’t only about reported and unreported numbers but those in the local development community bankrolling specific candidates; and yes, enquiring minds do want to know, whether one dismisses this as ‘low-hanging fruit’ or not.
The Dandy was the last thing worth reading in the Journal. It has become the equivalent of a weekly advertising supplement. What with the Media Maven pomposity and Savage’s “Poor Me” columns, what’s left to read but the ads?
Now, hair-trigger Abate seems poised to deal the final blow. Let’s hope it doesn’t drag out too long, eh?
R.I.P. Journal.
Hank is still listed as staff on the NCJ website.
Spoke too soon?
Two week notice?
In a comment, Savage wrote that he “opted to resign.”
“Then why is it so rare that numbers like that get published in the local press?”
Mitch, I don’t know where you’ve been or how long you have been here but Hank was doing this long before John Osborn – he even scanned and posted the actual forms at least once so that you could see the whole thing for yourself – and it has been published in the TS for years as well. That’s the easy stuff. Geez. Even I can do that.
Rose,
I need to be clearer. OK, if the numbers have seen print before, that’s great. I can’t recall much of anything in either the weekly or the daily, aside from the recent article mentioned, that put campaign contributions in context.
As I’m sure you understand, it’s one thing to put up a mind-numbing set of numbers which no one will bother to look at, let alone understand. It’s another thing to explain to people what you think is going on, whether you’re right or wrong, whether you think people will agree with you or not.
The best way to hide things in this country is in plain sight.
Thanks Skippy!
There was a time when “community” media picked the low-hanging fruit AND told you if it was sour, ie, they shared the outrage with the rest of THEIR community, regardless of fear or favor.
We’re still waiting for someone to report on the low-hanging fruit that fell long ago and is rotting on the ground…the public subsidies required for an unsustainable growth model that makes the development community’s historic political control worth every penny.
Moviedad is also correct, the Citizens United ruling enables the developers and their apologists to slink even further into the shadows, JUST when a local reporter began to expose the conspiracy.
With today’s media self-censorship, we’ll have to wait until the fruit falls and another forest grows in its place before we read any editorial outrage over the inevitable local impacts of the Citizens United ruling.
I’m mystified, Mitch. What did Hank do if NOT give you his view on what it all meant? Is that not what the Town Dandy was all about? Can’t help it if his conclusion is sort of at odds with YOUR assessment, but that’s what letters to the editor, Op-Eds and yes, blogs, are for.
Rose,
If you wanted to talk in person, I’d be happy to. As you know, my strong opinions were not about what Hank said. They were about what he knew but didn’t say.
OK Mitch, what do you think is going on? Each election cycle, the TS runs articles listing the recent major contributors to campaigns (I think the Journal has done this too), and the number of donations received that fall under anonymous reporting guidelines. If you have a conspiracy to report, report it. What’s stopping you?
Okay, we’re talking about a free paper(just like other ones that have gone outta business around here) The town dandy was a jewel of thought provoking controversy. Without this column the NCJ is just boring, and no one will be influenced by it’s advertising. If you always agree with a journalist you’re just a spoonfed robot spoonfeeding of another spoonfed robot. I often couldn’t believe I was reading something I haven’t heard a hundred times that didn’t fit into some pigeonhole in a free paper!I will miss Hanks’ writing, I can only hope someone with better business sense will pick him up as a writer.
Without the Dandy, it’s an old lady’s paper, which, I suppose, it why Tom was hired.
Do you like coffee, Mitch? Might be fun to talk in person.
Mitch & Rose,
The numbers on who funds campaigns are printed during every election cycle in the McK Press. Those numbers also appear in other local papers. FYI
The interconnectedness of those numbers to each other is left to our imaginations. Investigative reporting would help fill in the gaps.
The Judy and Tom show was the program at Eureka Rotary yesterday. Tom should not unload the Uhaul just yet. Judy is in denial about Tom’s loose cannon-ness. It will be interesting how this plays out. Stayed tuned with popcorn.
How bout a follow up, Heraldo. The title of this post is “Sims TO leave.” Did he? He’s listed on their website.
Here you go:
No public announcement for Sims resignation.
Now that the NCJ “web guru” has resigned, their website is naturally outdated.