A Year in the Life

One year ago, on February 24, 2006, I started this blog with a short post. The idea, like all of them, had begun as a tiny nagging voice in the back of my head that grew louder and louder until I could no longer ignore it.

For anyone who doesn't remember, the first post consisted of this brief introduction...

Friday, February 24, 2006

Welcome to West Michigan Politics

The site will be your source for coverage of the West Michigan political scene (as well well as state and national politics especially when it affects our area). We hope to bring you the news that the mainstream media won't dare to cover. I will rely on you, the reader, to help by supplying me with leads and background info that will help to uncover the stories that will shape our area and our state for years to come. Stay tuned...

posted by Pol Watcher @ 2/24/2006 10:14:00 AM

For those who've wondered why I started this site, I figure an anniversary present to the readers of this site would be an explanation of why I'm doing this.

I found blogs, from the best my memory can construct, in the days and weeks after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. I had become increasingly disturbed by the nature of media coverage in the wake of the tragedy as news sources became propaganda outlets for an administration more and more obviously using the horrific event to achieve unrelated parts of their political agenda especially as the smoke cleared and the NeoCon plans for an invasion of Iraq were becoming clearer. More likely, they'd been propaganda outlets all along but I was no longer immune to the fact that one of the world's largest defense contractors owned a major TV network and that war not only boosted their bottom line by demanding more weapons but it also was a ratings bonanza as Americans sat down to watch the newest Hollywood blockbuster meets reality show meets country music anthem. Yes, you could watch bombs kill foreigners while listening to Toby Keith and feeling like a red-blooded real American patriot.

At first I wasn't really seeking out blogs, at the time I doubt I had even really heard the term or even if I had most likely I still assumed them to be the bored ramblings of college students who thought all their friends and family would like to know what they ate for breakfast that day. I found that blogs were more openly questioning of the dubious claims that we all now realize weren't true. Anyone who cared to look could have found numerous instances of scholars and experts openly debating and discussing the lack of evidence or the cooking of intelligence to make the case for war, but you wouldn't find it in the mainstream, corporately-owned and advertising revenue-driven media.

As the country descended into war fever, not bothering to stop and ask if it was necessary or just, I went to blogs more and more for solace. During the dark days of Mission Accomplished and Last Throes, I found myself spending more and more time on-line. And while I saw many people attempting to start their own political blogs, I found most of them to be nothing more than people pointing to the blogs they read with little more to offer. The "link blogging" came to look like a snake eating its own tail or a circle jerk more than an effort to educate or make a difference. At this time I really didn't consider blogging myself since I knew I couldn't do it better than the top tier bloggers such as the front pagers at The Daily Kos.

Finally the storm clouds starting to part and hope appeared on the horizon. As the failing effort in Iraq and the White House's lies became clearer to the public in the form of flag-draped coffins and sinking poll numbers I was finally able to do something besides despair. It was obvious the political winds were shifting and I wished to be a part of helping to end this dark period in American history. But what difference could ONE person make when the media had ignored the millions who spoke out and marched against a war they knew was bullshit? I certainly couldn't cover national politics better than the people I was reading and besides, how would I be heard amongst the hundreds, if not thousands, of other blogs talking about important national issues?

Meanwhile, closer to home Barry County had been suffering through an extended period of incompetence and even dangerously close to criminal leadership in the county government. A lifelong resident of Barry County and graduate of Hastings High School, I began to feel a desire to help fix what seemed so obviously wrong at the local level. Finally, I decided that the stories I was hearing in coffee shops and in private conversations weren't seeing the light of day or heard by anyone outside a tight knit circle of insiders. Despite the fact that I think the Hastings Banner turned a corner and finally began hammering what was wrong at the county board with their decision to begin running editorials which often called local leaders on the carpet, I still felt like it wouldn't touch some stories that deserved to be aired. County board elections were coming and State Representative Gary Newell's open seat was going to be hotly contested as well as contests for Senator and Governor.

I finally made up my mind that if no one else would get the truth out, that I had to do it. I'd waited for someone else who might do it better but time was running out. Like many a politician, I drafted myself. Despite not having the least bit of knowledge of HTML or web design I decided to start my own blog which would be based on trying to make a difference where I felt I could actually do it- at the local level. I knew enough people who knew what was going on behind the scenes that would help to make up for my deficiencies and inexperience in local politics. The funny thing is that despite the fact I probably seem to think I have all the answers, creating this blog has been on the best learning experiences in my life.

Before I end this little look back and self-congratulatory pat on my own back, I have one more thing to say: Start you own blog! You see that little button in the top right corner? It's that easy. Hit the button and go. Blogger is about as dummy proof as you can get (I'm sure some think I'm proof of that). The hardest part is keeping at it.

Oh, and one more thing. I'd like to thank the thousands of people who've visited this sight. And I'd especially like to thank the dedicated core of readers who come here even more than I do and whose comments help make this a more well-rounded and well-informed place of public discourse, a virtual town hall. I hope you'll all stick around for at least another year...

The blog in your own eye

In case you weren't already aware, the recent WOOD TV 9 broadcast probably alerted you to the presence of Save Our Saxons, a web site dedicated to exposing some dirty laundry concerning the Hastings Public School system. Unfortunately, instead of tackling the actual issues at hand, the channel 8 story chose to focus on the less controversial issue (at least as far as a TV station is concerned) of whether such information is best discussed on a web site presenting "one side" of the issue. Once again, by completely missing the meat of the issue the media has shown in its handling of this story why blogs such as West Michigan Politics and sites such as Save Our Saxons have sprung into existence.

As HHS teacher Larry Christopher states on the Save Our Saxons site, he was forced on-line when the local media dropped the ball, as he saw it. I too decided to create this site when I heard several instances of stories suppressed or ignored by the local media outlets. While your average citizen doesn't get any favors from the press, if you're an important person the chances of your drunk driving arrest getting reported in the local media aren't very high. In this case, the schools are a solid source of revenue for certain news outlets and that, along with other possible conflicts of interest (family members of the HHS Athletic Director employed by the company which published the Hastings Banner, personal friendships or business relationships within a small town community, etc.), might possibly be coloring the news that is reported. Now, I'm not sure you could find someone more dedicated to improving our schools and our community than Banner publisher Fred Jacobs but one has to wonder why none of the allegations put forth by Christopher and others seems to have made it into the light of day before now. Now, the Banner is a far better paper than most cities the size of Hastings have- it has often made enemies that other publishers might have not made but I have heard too many stories about news that never made it to the surface because of a personal or business connection and I think some of the commentary on this issue has been a bit disingenuous.

In the story be Dee Morrison of channel 8, Jacobs is quoted as saying:

"The industry has guidelines. We're taught how to handle news, the ethics of good news reporting. When you're talking about just an open society where there's no rules or guidelines, that's when you get into trouble."
"Whether or not accusations on a website are true or false, or a little of both, how does an accused person respond? With reputations and careers at stake, what kind of responsibility is there for those who post on the internet?"
"Hundreds of people, thousands of people could see it. How is an innocent person going to go and reclaim their integrity? There's absolutely no control over it."

While it's certainly possible that a web site could be used to slander people, it's happened often enough in the mainstream media that the log in the eye of most media outlets likely obscures their view while surfing blogs. When AM talk radio repeats slanderous smears devoid of factual content on an almost hourly basis, how can one turn to the Internet and expect a higher standard? When a prosecutor falsely accuses someone of something as bad as sexual assault or possession of child pornography and uses the local paper to spread the false charges (and once it's in print most people choose to believe no matter what facts get aired later, often buried deep inside the paper if at all), what right does the owner of that same paper have to complain about the hypothetical instance in which some other person's reports may contain minor inaccuracies?

I actually think bloggers are forced to higher standards since they often don't have the financial means to "lawyer up" and many aren't hidden beneath layers of legal trickery to protect assets the way a corporation can. In fact, right now a video blogger holds the U.S.A.'s record for jail time in a case for refusing to give up evidence where the FBI would like to know who was at a anti-globalization protest where minor property damage to a police car occurred and yet this case has received a tiny fraction of cases like Judy Miller who refused to give up her confidential sources in the case of the outing of covert CIA officer Valerie (Plame) Wilson in the Scooter Libby case. While many journalists can get legal counsel from their employers, an amateur with a web site is likely not equipped to do and faces a greater amount of legal exposure. In fact, I have had to peel back from stories I would have liked to get into just because I couldn't risk what might happen even though I felt the stories were 100% accurate.

Certainly, there is a possible "disgruntled employee" explanation for Christopher's motives, which he himself tackles on the site, leaving readers to decide for themselves whether they think this is sour grapes based on losing out on a coaching gig or righteous indignation aimed at a corrupt spoils system of good old boys excusing each others' bad behavior. In as much as Save Our Saxons focuses on cronyism and corruption one has to decide for themselves whether the evidence is strong enough to prove the case. But more troubling for me are the allegations regarding emails and instances where Hastings AD Mike Goggins engaged in behavior which at many jobs would have resulted in his immediate dismissal or at least some sort of reprimand or suspension.

In recent history we have witnessed the Columbine massacre and the murder of gay teen Matthew Shepherd. One of the connecting threads in the two events is how our culture treats teens who are different. Our school administrators, teachers and support staff should be working toward creating a positive and nurturing environment that lifts students up. On several occasions Goggins seems to have engaged in behavior that would probably garner a student a suspension, possibly even expulsion. But what disciplinary action has Goggins faced that measures up to the actions that have been recorded in email or by eye witness testimony? A letter in his file? A stern talking to? Ouch, I'm sure that's a pain that lingers...

Goggins' lawyer's contends that "the problem is, you get people who put themselves into the media on the Internet, and they don't have to have that same kind of accountability." From what I see, if the media had been doing their job and allowing people more access to the public soap box, the people who are posting on blogs probably wouldn't have found the audience they've now got. Now the media is trying to put the cow back in the barn and it's likely too late. Considering the way the major media outlets allowed the White House to spin a phony case for war or to paint anyone a traitor who opposed them in doing so, I fail to see where the so-called pros get off criticizing citizens for trying to expose the truth they failed to uncover or even intentionally tried to bury and yet they do so. If only professional journalists followed the real stories instead of trying to belittle anyone without a degree in the field doing it in their spare time, maybe people wouldn't be getting more and more of their information from on-line sources. Maybe if the sponsors of the news didn't get to dictate what appeared during the news, maybe the media would have a leg to stand on in this discussion.

Even if most of the allegations are ultimately unprovable or even false, there is enough to at force a public airing of allegations and evidence which might finally happen now that the media has decided this is news. Yesterday, Tuesday, February 13, was the final day for people to enter the race for school board where 2 seats will be up for grabs and we will likely see some last minute filing given the timing of the media exposure. I don't begin to know where the truth lies in all of this but I know that finally the parents, citizens and taxpayers of the area can make up their own minds. But only because some guy with a web site forced the issue into the open. And the beauty of the Internet is that if Mr. Goggins or anyone else doesn't like what's being said, there's always a little place known as Blogger than will give you a free space on the world wide web to present their own case. That's a better example of equal time than almost anything found in the mainstream media today.

Saul of Farces

Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis seems to understand what makes for good comedy- saying something with a straight face that is so obviously not true that no one could possibly believe it. Last week on Michigan Public Radio he was quoted as saying that the Democrats have no chance to win two seats where his party won with under 55% of the vote despite outspending the Democratic oppenent by a wide margin in both races. It wasn't that Anuzis was simply doing his job which is to spin news in favor of his side but it was that as usual his argument was silly and demonstrably false and proves once again that state Republicans just can't be taken seriously.

News reports such as those at The Jackson Citizen Patriot, CQ Politics and The Detroit News have circulated in recent days that national Democrats are eyeing two GOP-held seats in the state's congregational delegation which are in districts that are looking favorable to the chances of a swing to the Democratic side. The seats are important since the Democrats will be looking to widen their margins in the house and Michigan is fairly friendly turf given that the Governor just won in a landslide and the state has two Democratic Senators and Dems are in control of the state house once again. In fact, some think the party could even play in as many as four districts. Whether you agree or not that Democrats will win these seats is not the point, the point is that the playing field looks pretty good as any time an incumbent wins by less than 10% they are to be considered vulnerable in the next cycle especially if the losing candidate tries for a rematch and carries forward the lessons learned from a hard fought race.

While, and maybe because, Mr. Anuzis would like to deny reality, the state GOP has become a joke. Every editorial board in the state outside of a handful of conservative papers as well as the Governor's bipartisan panel on the budget understands and is calling for the Governor and the State Legislature to cut spending, raise taxes and restructure the way the state government takes in revenue. Mostly, this dire predicament is due to the fact that the state GOP has been playing a game of chicken with Democrats since the Engler administration where they dare Democrats to stand in the way of tax cuts, tax cuts, and more tax cuts. For many years this worked as the economy rolled along and good times brought in just enough money to sort of keep up appearances though study after study showed Michigan wasn't investing enough money in roads, bridges, schools and other critical infrastructure that would make the state a desirable place to live, work and stay.

Now, it's become obvious to everyone that the state's fiscal situation is dire but what is the state GOP doing about it? They eliminated the Single Business Tax with no credible plan to replace it and now they're continuing along with their reckless binge of calling for even steeper cuts in revenue while trying to lay the problem at the feet of the "tax and spend" Democrats. This elephant simply won't hunt and it's time for the state GOP to own up to their responsibilities and offer some real solutions instead of rhetoric and look to offer compromise instead of looking for scapegoats.

The writing is on the wall, but why can't the state GOP read?