In yesterday's "InPortland" pullout section of the Oregonian, there was a full page profile of three candidates for Eric Sten's seat on city council. Each had full-body photos with wrapped text that consisted of the candidate's answers to a bunch of whimsical questions the Oregonian had asked of them.
The candidates profiled were Emily Boyles, Ginny Burdick and Eric Sten. Notably absent from the profiles was Dave Lister.
I wrote to the reporter covering the race to give her the business. She responded with the typical explanation: "We can't cover everybody"... "He hasn't raised much money" ... "It was a hard decision" ... blah blah blah.
Of course, Dave Lister is the only candidate in the race who opposes all the policies that the Oregonian has supported all these years: light rail, urban renewal, "new urbanism," the tram, etc.
Each of the other three candidates who were graced with the implied legitimacy of the Oregonian profile can be described as "left, lefter and leftest." God forbid we actually have a debate over ideology in a city council race. We certainly can't have a voice for small business, lower taxes and ending wasteful city spending in a city council race.
Dave Lister has written a column on Portland issues for BrainstormNW magazine for two years. He has served for years on the city's Small Business Advisory Committee. He has owned and operated a small business for a couple decades. He is raising money for his campaign, employs paid campaign staff, and has been invited to participate in the City Club's debate next Friday. He has been endorsed by Jack Bogdanski, who runs Portland's most well read blog (bojack.org)
But the Oregonian doesn't think this qualifies Dave Lister as a candidate legitimate enough to be covered on par with Emily Boyles, who as far as I can tell has done little other than get 1000 people to give her $5 so she can spend $150K of taxpayer money on her campaign.
The Oregonian really showed its stripes on this one. Oh sure they'll try to explain it away, but bottom line they don't want Dave's voice heard, and so they will do nothing to tell voters about him.
Is it any wonder why the Oregonian's reputation is sliding so far, so fast these days?
They should understand that gone are the days when they can make this kind of call with impunity. They don't get it yet, but "new media" is big enough and powerful enough that when establishment media pulls this kind of a stunt they pay a price.
Just as CBS didn't get away with publishing fake documents, because the bloggers tore them apart like so many pirhana feasting on a dead carcass of an ox floating downstream, the Oregonian can't define any longer who is and who is not a legitimate political voice.
Dave Lister is not just a legitimate voice - his common sense views about all the craziness happening in Portland's political arena have a following among political liberals and moderates as well as conservatives.
Maybe that is what the Oregonian is worried about!
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6 comments:
First they ignore you.
Then they villify you.
Dave Lister may or many not get the attention he wants and deserves. But if you think the coverage is "left, lefter and leftest" now, wait till they really go after this guy.
bOregononian strategy is as simple as a-b-c.:
a. Ignore (1)
b. Deride
c. Ignore (2)
We've just seen "ignore" part 1. After they go after Dave in "deride" stage, they won't give him a chance to respond, in "ignore" part 2. That will be the worst.
I have a hard time with this race. I am not in PDX, so it won't directly affect me. But Ginny Burdick would lose her Senate seat if she won this, and that would get a barking moonbat who DOES affect the whole state out of our hair.
But then, Burdick is so extreme that she even pisses off her own caucus in Salem. Maybe we are better having her there, instead of handing her seat to a party-chosen replacement.
Much to think about...
The "ignore" aspect is the classic move of the Portland media.
Of course it is not new.
Unfortunately.
Dave Lister is going to be hard to ignore. He is raising campaign contributions and has a huge fundraiser on board the Portland Spirit cruise ship "Rock the Boat for Dave Lister" Tuesday, April 4, 2006 at 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. go to dave@daveforpdx.com for more details. In a four person race: Lister, Boyles, Burdick, and Sten; Dave gets 30% to 36% (historically, fiscally responsible candidates have drawn as much), the other three split the rest of the vote equally and Dave makes it to the fall and then anything can happen.
Dave can also draw traditional "liberal" voters who are sick to death of the waste (Even some liberals want their tax money spent wisely.). Small business respects Dave Lister because he is owns a computer software development business. He knows the burden Portland places on small business through the business license fee(read tax).
Fiscally responsible people of Portland unite, we can do this, the timing is the best we have seen in a long time.
I heard the end of Dave Lister's interview on KUFO yesterday afternoon (5/4/06) on my way home. WOW! I am a native Portlander, and he echoed my thoughts on transportation & taxes = how refreshing! I agree that our city officials are truly trying to make driving (amongst other things) very painful around here. They need to WAKE UP - we cannot all commute by bike, train or bus, nor will we. And I bet they don't either. I don't get taking out lanes for bike lanes on main arteries either! More and more people are moving into this city with the irresponsible in-filling going on. So, we're going to close schools and fill them with even more kids than ever before. Yeah, that makes sense. Cut the waste!!!
"The City That Works" is a joke! This city's is on the fast track to being unlivable.
I'M VOTING FOR DAVE!
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