Stop the presses; the Bend Bulletin just endorsed Chris Telfer. Wow, I never saw that coming.
But seriously, I know a lot of locals consider The Bulletin’s editorial board to be a bunch of ill-informed, predictable, and intellectually dishonest knuckleheads who do little more than carry water for the local builders, developers and the Republican Party. But I’m not sure I buy it. In fact, I think all The Bulletin’s editorial positions and endorsements are the result of a long, hotly debated, deliberative process. Because if they weren’t, then some clown like me could sit down several weeks before the election and, with great certainty, make a list of who will eventually receive that paper’s backing. But because The Bulletin has no bias, and my name isn’t Nostradamus, I could never do such a thing.
But maybe I should try, ya know, just to prove my point. Maybe I should make a list of all the candidates the Bulletin would simply have to endorse if they were in fact surrogates for the development community and the Republican Party. I think I will.
So let’s see, the first two are easy. They’d have no choice but to endorse John McCain and Gordon Smith, probably justified by their “experience” or something like that. Of course they’ve already given Telfer the nod, so that fits the pattern… that is, the pattern I’m trying to disprove. They’d also have to go with Republicans Chuck Burley, Gene Whisnant, and Mike Huffman. Now some think that in the County Commissioner race, the Bulletin could take Unger over Daley, in part because of Daley’s ill-advised remarks about domestic violence, and in part to throw at least one Democrat in to the mix. We’ll see.
Because the Bend City Council race is technically nonpartisan, predictions are not as easy as looking for the “R” after the candidate’s name. So instead I will follow the money. You see, in politics, money never lies. And that’s why I occasionally like to visit the State of Oregon’s website that tracks all campaign donations – https://secure.sos.state.or.us/eim/jsp/CEMainPage.jsp
Okay, done. So according to the database, the local builders, developers and realtors heavily favor Jeff Eager over Jodie Barram, Kathie Eckman over Linda Johnson, Don Leonard over Jim Clinton and Tom Greene over Peter Gramlich. Now if the Bulletin editorial board was really a mouthpiece for Bend’s good old boy network, then they’d simply have to endorse Eager, Eckman & Leonard. I’d throw Greene in there with them as well except that Gramlich is so clearly more qualified, the paper might go with him so not to appear ridiculous. So there you have it; my attempt at proving a negative. If the Bulletin doesn’t endorse the following candidates (McCain, Smith, Burley, Whisnant, Huffman, Eager, Eckman & Leonard) then they have no political bias. Time will tell.
Dean Warner, Bend
This article appears in Oct 2-8, 2008.
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Maybe they just make intelligent decisions!!
I agree. That damned Bulletin. If they were doing their job up there, they would really keep you guessing. Like the Source does.
Jed’s comment that The Bulletin’s endorsements are “intelligent decisions” are an oxymoron if I’ve ever seen one. (P.S. Jed, feel free to look up the definition of oxymoron if you are a bit confused.)
Well, Dean Warner seems to know something because the day after his predictions were published, the Bulletin did in fact endorse the democrat Alan Unger. Now I’m going to keep track to see if the rest of his picks are spot on as well. If they are, that’ll only confirm what so many people know.
The local newspaper sucks. I guess I am going to pull the $12 000 dollars I spend on advertising in The Bulletin for their endorsing of Telfer. Sad to see how they can twist the truth and avoid it time and time again.
We all vote with our dollars and cable TV and Z 21 all are going to be happy when my thousand of dollars goes their way instead of the Bulletin.
The Bulletin does not report real news, rather they are a propaganda machine for the republican party and the Fascist members of Bend who have a double standard.
Tellfer is not fit to be in any public office and if they fail to see this, well then you are again showing their true colors and no suprize to me at all.
So take the dollars away from your advertising unless you are a Tellfer fan and want to support another criminal in our local office. Criminal is perhaps a strong word, but her intent is to make as much money off of the system as she can and benefit her greatly…
Bulletin does not deserve my dollars ever again.
Endorsements are worthless, unless you think the endorser is smarter and has more integrity than you do. I have never met anyone smarter than me, and I have so much freaking integrity that I have to sell some off to the less fortunate, so I pick my own candidates…and charge 10 bucks for the list.
Yup, everyone who is paying attention knows that Telfer is in the pocket of the Good Old Boys of Bend. The developers just LOVE her, and the builders do too. Just check her voting record, she’s always for fewer environmental protections and doing whatever she can to make building easier and cheaper for her rich real estate friends.
Just checked the Bulletin this morning and just as Mr. Warner predicted, they’ve endorsed Mike Huffman. So far he’s batting 1000.