Free advertising for school board candidates
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March 29, 2013 |
By Mike Weland
Publisher
As a candidate for Zone 1 trustee on the
Boundary County School District 101 board and as
owner and publisher of this website, I am
offering each declared candidate for a school
trustee post, on the ballot or write-in, free
advertising on newsbf.com.
In addition, I am requesting information from
every candidate who will be on the May 21
ballot; photo, bio, and platform, for free
publication, whether you advertise with us or
not ... it's my humble opinion that an informed
electorate is an effective electorate and that
it's an obligation of the media, even a humble
media such as this one, to provide that
information.
I hope readers will share this with their
candidates of choice, and ask that they each
take advantage and send the information to
publisher@newsbf.com.
One of the major reasons our nation is in such
sad disrepair isn't the fault of candidates or
voters, again my feeble opinion, but of the
modern news media, wherein the candidate who
spends the most gets the best spin. It shouldn't
be that way. Elections should be earned on
personal merit and ability, not on their
fundraising or glad-hand talent or the abilities
of their staff to manipulate the media.
While few candidates in election cycles since
this publication began have noticed or taken
advantage to introduce themselves to Boundary
County voters for free via this journal, the
policy in the second paragraph has always been
here.
In fact, I personally mailed (snail mail, no
less) every candidate on the Boundary County
ballot in the last election the offer. Few
took me seriously. I never heard from Barack
Obama's camp, nor from those other guys. Who
were they?
The sad truth is, they no longer need small town
journals such as this; today's news and coverage
is regional, national, global. The people who
read my "paper," aimed at the people here and
those who love this place, can get their state
or national politics from a handful of corporate
media outlets.
Spend a million here and a million there and the
polls begin turning your way. Get caught in a
scandal? The corporate media giants can reduce
you and your campaign to rubble unless you have
more money to spend, in which case those foibles
and faux pas can easily disappear.
I certainly welcome political advertising, but
I'm not going to deny those who read these pages
the information on candidates or causes they are
being asked to vote on based on what the
candidate puts in
my bank account.
I have and will continue to offer every
candidate and cause that comes before Boundary
County voters equal opportunity to inform you,
without charge or obligation, and in their own
words. I will never make nor offer
a political endorsement; my job is to provide
information so voters can make an informed
decision, not to tell you what that decision should
be.
I have and will continue to let readers and
voters express diverse opinion in letters to the
editor, and I will continue to report news, even
if it involves a candidate.
Even if I'm a candidate. In my journalistic
career, I've made mistakes, and I've slung mud
on myself just as I've slung mud on others.
Personally, I'm not going to place a paid ad for
myself on these pages; but I will take advantage
of my own free offer. I will give each other
candidate for a position on the school board,
from here to election day, the free offer of a
200x200 pixel ad, linking to their own website
or to a web page I build for them; in which the
words you read are the ones they wrote, the
pictures you see are the ones they've provided,
and which they approve before it becomes public.
The offer of free editorial placement is open to
every candidate in every race taking place May
21 and any election thereafter; be it a seat on the board of South Boundary
Fire or for Mayor of Moyie Springs. My hope is
to publish information from the candidate,
not opinion, so that voters get interested,
argue, become informed and make a sound vote at
the poll.
I'll be sending a letter to each candidate (via
snail mail) in this election to let them know of this offer, and
hope they reply. Via this free editorial
coverage, readers will be able to see and
compare, on one web page, the candidates and
options for each individual race they're being
asked to decide, in alphabetical order or pro
versus con.
I hate to keep interjecting my opinion, but in
my mind this May election is not as important as
a national, state or county election, but more
important.
These are people vying for your vote that they
might represent you in a place where
disagreements aren't abstract, but right next
door. People, in some cases, such as school
board, library district or either of the two
fire districts, who are running for important
obligations for which they receive nor expect
compensation.
I wasn't a candidate when I started this site,
and I never imagined I'd be one, but I've
covered elections here for more than 20 years,
secretly sending results to the Associated Press
so that the votes of our county could be
included in national tabulations.
I've always admired most those who stepped up
for the opportunity to give the best they have
so as to offer to serve in positions in which
the chance to serve is the only reward.
They epitomize the process by which "public
servants, responsible to the electorate" come
into office, and it's a process, I believe, that
should be emulated in every office in which we,
the citizens, are granted the right to vote by
the U.S. Constitution and the constitutions of
each of our separate states.
I'm of the opinion that elected public service
at any level should be a personal
responsibility, a debt owed. A chance to give
back, and not a path on which to base a career
or prosper. Having the trust of the electorate,
of neighbors, should be an honor and an
obligation to serve well, not a ticket to
paradise.
We should reserve career paths and prosperity to
the people; the soldiers, sailors and airmen who
defend us, the police, firefighters and
ambulance crews who protect us, the teachers who
teach us, the producers and inventors who supply
us our daily needs.
I'll get off my soap box now. Thank you for
reading. |
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