Daily Times – Shoddy Reporting or Political Intimidation?

It’s doubtful that Salisbury’s Daily Times will win a Pulitzer anytime soon.  That said, they seem to be sinking to lows that may exceed their own dismal record.  The question is whether the staff of the Daily Times is lazy, incompetent, or attempting to influence local government through intimidation.

This morning’s article about a mysterious “report” on Salisbury police chief Allan Webster not only fails to meet any standard of truth, it doesn’t even meet a standard of accuracy.  The article even admits that it is based on “rumor”.  Given that the reporter, Laura D’Alessandro, was unable to confirm any of these rumors, I am shocked that any newspaper would run such a story anywhere, much less on the front page above the fold.

To set the record straight, there is no “report” co-authored by Salisbury councilwomen Debbie Campbell and Terry Cohen.  Not only do both ladies deny this, there is no evidence to support the existence of such a “report”.  It is true that both members, separately, sent letters to Mayor Jim Ireton.  Campbell sent a one page letter to Ireton expressing the concerns of both herself and constituents regarding the performance of Webster.  Cohen sent a letter to Ireton covering concerns and complaints of constituents based on a meeting that was held and Ireton had been unable to attend.

D’Alessandro’s approach to this was both slipshod and reckless.  In an attempt to garner reaction from Campbell she first asked if councilwoman Campbell “had filed charges” against Webster.  When asked what was the source of this bizarre allegation, D’Alessandro replied that one of her editors had “read it on a blog”.  While I’m glad that the management of the Daily Times takes time from their busy schedules to peruse the local blogosphere, I would suggest that they pick more credible sites to read.

Campbell did not respond to D’Alessandro’s repeated inquiries about “rumors” that seemed to change by the hour:

“First of all, I don’t respond to rumors.  More importantly, when it became apparent that this was little more than a “witch hunt”, I declined to take part.”

If D’Alessandro had taken the time to do a little research and ask the right questions, she may have uncovered facts, rather than put her name to nothing but innuendo.  However, that was never the goal of the Daily Times. Councilwoman Cohen did respond to D’Alessandro’s inquiries:

“Salisbury can use less media drama and more attention to issues.  Where Chief Webster is concerned, I’ve done my role as an elected representative of the people and relayed concerns to Mayor Ireton.  By charter, it is the mayor’s role and at his discretion to decide what comes next.  There is no action or inaction that is newsworthy right now.”

However, since this didn’t jibe with the story they wanted, Cohen’s quote did not find its way into D’Alessandro’s article.  That is why we were treated to this little ditty by Salisbury’s own Nobel laureate, Councilman Gary Comegys:

“Here we go again,” said Council Vice President Gary Comegys. “I heard that a six-page document outlining complaints against the chief, exists but I can’t comment on its contents because I haven’t seen it. Those two council people (Campbell and Cohen) are acting outside their duties and scope as council members.”

Forgiving the poor use of punctuation, Campbell and Cohen were NOT acting outside their “duties and scope as council members”.  It is their RESPONSIBILITY to meet with constituents and forward any concerns to the mayor.  It is the mayor’s duty to take action if and as he sees fit.  However, I can understand why Comegys would think this given that he has spent six years doing little more than rubber stamping the will of former mayor Barrie Tilghman and attacking the character of anyone who disagrees with the policies or folly of the Barrie Comegys party.  At some point in time Comegys may understand that it is the duty of council members to LEGISLATE and PROVIDE OVERSIGHT.  Perhaps when Comegys publicly disagrees with the man who crushed him at the polls this spring he can be reminded of his own words.

INTIMIDATION

In reality there was an ulterior motive to the Daily Times’ little exercise in rumor mongering.  This was an obvious attempt to intimidate Mayor Ireton.  Almost 25% of D’Alessandro’s piece is devoted to discussion of an event that occurred seven years ago and involving a Salisbury city council of which no member currently serves in office.  However, mention of these past events was needed to throw out the figure “$100,000“.

This is the reported cost to the taxpayer of that council attempting to oust Webster in 2002.  Why was the cost so high you might ask?  While this is only speculation, I would venture that this was due to:

• The usual legal efficiency of city attorney Paul Wilber    and…

• The fact that then mayor Barrie Tilghman persuaded the council to pay all of Webster’s legal fees.

By implying that Ireton might be wasting taxpayer dollars if he dismisses Webster, the paper is simply attempting to protect an acolyte of Barrie Tilghman’s.  Given that the nickname of the paper has been the Tilghman Times, this is not surprising.  For years, the paper has been an advocate of nearly every policy, harebrained scheme, and general wasting of tax dollars which emanated from Tilghman’s office.  They have also made assassinating the character of Tilghman’s critics an actual “stock in trade”.  In fact, one of the surest methods of securing promotion at Gannett’s local arm has been to relentlessly attack her opponents, particularly Campbell.  Just ask (now) editors Joe Carmean and Laren Hughes-Hall (both now editors).

During the Tilghman years we could expect almost as much objective coverage of Salisbury government as we could of the Wicomico County Board of Education (WCBOE).  However, at least in the case of the WCBOE there was good reason.  The public information officer of the WCBOE is the wife of Daily Times Managing Editor Erick Sahler.

I can only infer that defending a Tilghman acolyte with scurrilous rumor mongering has become a reflex reaction over at the Daily Times.  Why else would they continue to support the likes of Allan Webster.  During his tenure we have seen Salisbury become one of the most dangerous cities (per capita) in America.  He has refused to take part in any solution that was not of his own making or for self-aggrandizement (e.g. the Crime Taskforce).  While there are two unsolved murders, this year, Webster has time to pitch stories to the newspaper.

A MOLE IN THE GOB?

There remains one question in this little play, one which Councilwoman Cohen so presciently termed “media drama”.  Who turned over Campbell’s and Cohen’s private correspondence to Mayor Ireton?  Given that both letters were hand delivered to Ireton, how did Webster see them (if he saw them)?

Perhaps Ireton, being the good grade school teacher that he is, called Webster in for a little chat?  If so, that would be fine.  Of course, we should then ask why Webster wanted to go public with a private personnel issue.

If not, someone in Ireton’s administration leaked the information to Webster.  The most likely suspects would be City Administrator John Pick, Asst. City Administrator Lore Chambers, the city’s HR chief, or DIS chief Pam Olan (who is responsible for HR, finance and procurement).

I certainly don’t know, but Ireton would be wise to find out (and quickly) who can be trusted in the Mayor’s office and who can’t.  It’s going to be difficult for Ireton to do his job if his subordinates are always attempting to undermine him and his office.

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