Another version
Greg Tennant, Hartford
Saturday, August 2, 2008
IN REGARD to the story, “Candidate Backs Out of Forum,” July 18, 2008, I find this headline to be biased and misleading.
The Emporia Gazette published the forum before it was ever agreed to by both candidates. Therefore the headline should have read “Gazette Falsely Announces Forum.”
This story has left many residents of Lyon County believing that Mr. Trimble was unwilling to debate current representative Peggy Mast. This is clearly not the case — as he stated, he welcomes a neutral forum hosted by an accredited organization. I believe this demonstrates Mr. Tremble’s good judgment and a respect for election law.
The organization that hastily put this forum together, with only a couple of days notice to Mr. Trimble, only solicited questions from Peggy Mast and is not affiliated with any of the institutions it claimed to be with, and is not registered with the State of Kansas, Lyon County or any other legitimate body. This was nothing but a political stunt, a hoax and a sham. To participate would be foolish and possibly against our state election laws.
So, quite frankly, I applaud Mr. Tremble’s judgment, ethics, and fortitude in being smart enough not to participate in a sham that does nothing but undermine the integrity of our electoral process. I would think The Emporia Gazette could serve this role well, rather than just running headlines that negatively shape people’s perspectives about a candidate. The real story is, why is the Emporia Gazette not questioning the validity of the group hosting the forum, its ties to Peggy Mast, and why would they announce the forum before both candidates had even agreed to participate — hmmmm?
Greg Tennant
Hartford
Summer_Breeze (anonymous) says...
Good questions, Mr. Tennant, and I hope the Gazette has the fortitude to answer them!
August 4, 2008 at 11:21 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )