County Councilor David Madore is a smart, inquisitive, dedicated cat.
These are some of the attributes of a good news guy, to be sure. But is he a news guy? He calls his Facebook page a “newspaper.” But there are a host of issues with his characterization of his Facebook page. Where to begin?
For one, if you’re a reporter and you make a promise, you keep it. As a reporter, your biggest asset is your credibility. But Madore has made a number of promises he hasn’t kept:
In God We Trust
• Madore vowed not to vote to put an “In God We Trust” sign on the county walls unless — unless — it received a unanimous vote from councilors.
Then, when he couldn’t get a unanimous vote, he voted for it anyway. Well, that promise didn’t last long.
By the way, what ever happened to that? It’s been five months since the vote. Here’s my guess: Expect no new wall sign until after Aug. 4. What’s Aug. 4, you ask? Why, that’s the primary Madore is running in, you silly.
East county bridge
• He vowed in early 2014 to have an east county bridge built in five years. The clock is ticking. And with 3½ years to go, nada. No shovel of dirt turned, no site nailed down, no agreement by any elected officials. Nada. Frankly, there is a zero percent chance Madore will meet his bridge-in-five-years promise.
A newspaper guy?
And back to this newspaper thing. Madore promised — more than a year ago — that he would have a printed newspaper up and running by now to compete against The Columbian. No sign of it yet. Another broken promise.
Instead, something very weird happened. A few months ago, Madore slapped the word “Newspaper” on his Facebook page.
Certainly, it is not a print product as he promised. But I guess because his Facebook page now says it’s a newspaper … it’s a newspaper!
Really?
First, if you look at the word “newspaper” it has this in it: Paper. You ain’t got no paper, councilor, so that would be inaccurate.
Then, a newspaper conjures up a number of reporters toiling away, working long hours for low pay for the good of the community, the good of society.
Madore conjures up chaos.
But let’s assume for the sake of argument that Madore’s Facebook page is a real newspaper. That would make him the chief reporter and the opinion writer.
And what an ethical mess that would be. Right?
Councilor Madore would be breaking one of the most basic tenets of journalism. He has put himself in the position of watchdogging elected officials when he is an elected official. And, of course, now he’s running to be county council chair.
Here’s what the Society of Professional Journalists says about a newspaper guy running for an elected position:
“The SPJ Ethics Committee gets a significant number of questions about whether journalists should engage in political activity. The simplest answer is ‘No.’ Don’t do it. Don’t get involved.
“Don’t contribute money, don’t work in a campaign, don’t lobby, and especially, don’t run for office yourself.”
So — if I may — let me speak to you directly, David:
Are you my journalism brother-in-arms or not? Because if you are with me, you cannot run for office. You cannot hold office.
There’s still time to right your wrongs, buddy. Come over from the dark side. Help me shine the light on those who don’t keep their promises. Together, we can make our community better.
But right now, you’re an elected official and also running a Facebook newspaper — it’s a huge conflict. How can you objectively report on elected officials who don’t keep their promises when you’re an elected official who doesn’t keep his promises?
Am I missing something here, buddy?
And now you want to be the county council chair? That would be a super-duper conflict of interest. Right, buddy?
I mean, how can the Madore newspaper honestly cover that Madore county chair dude?
My head is spinning here. Maybe your fellow Councilor Tom Mielke can explain it to me. On second thought …
For me, buddy, you’re going to have to choose. Newspaper guy? Political guy? Not both.
The public awaits your answer.
