In the January 30th edition of The Caroline Progress, there were two letters in support of Lee Anne Washington (R). The first was from a Howard Yarus of King George. King George is in (obviously) King George County, and is 20.95 miles away from Bowling Green (both the town seat of Caroline County and the location of The Caroline Progress‘s office).
The second letter in support of Lee Anne Washington (R), that was in the January 30th edition, was from Robert Fountain of Montross, Virginia. Robert Fountain is the Chairman of the Westmoreland County Republican Committee and is on First Congressional District Republican Committee. Montross is in Westmoreland County, and is 40.99 miles away from Bowling Green. This same letter also appeared in the February 6th edition of the Northern Neck News, which is owned by Lakeway Publishers, Inc., the same company that owns The Caroline Progress.
Another letter in support of Lee Anne Washington (R), appearing in the February 6th edition, was written by Terry Beatley from Lancaster, Virginia. Lancaster is in (again, obviously) Lancaster County, and is 68.31 miles away from Bowling Green.
The sole letter in support of Albert Pollard (D) appearing in any edition was in the February 6th edition. It was written by Rose West (who, admittedly, is the Secretary of the Caroline County Democratic Committee) who lives in Milford. Milford is 3.75 miles away from Bowling Green.
Yet another letter supporting Lee Anne Washington (R) written by Ron Herring of Heathsville, Virginia appeared in the February 13th edition. Heathsville is in Northumberland County and is 63.85 miles away from Bowling Green.
This is the same paper that in its December 5, 2007, edition printed a letter from the sheriff of Poquoson and York County in support of Rob Wittman (R). Yorktown is 100.57 miles away from Bowling Green!
Does anyone else see a problem with a 4–1 ratio of letters in support of one candidate (and if you include the letter in support of Wittman, a 5–1 ratio for one party)? Especially when the four letters (five, including Wittman’s) are from people not even in Caroline County? Especially times two, when the letters are being published in other newspapers owned by the same company?
It wouldn’t be a problem with using letters from their sister publications if they were done in a fair and balance manner!
Wait a second…I’m expecting them to do their jobs — how foolish of me…
The King George Journal made up for that, they did not print any letter in support of Washington, only letters in support of Pollard. They also ran 3 articles and the owner made a huge, personal contribution to the campaign.
Really? Explain this letter for Lee Anne Washington then.
She also had a extended article about her and her positions.
I don’t see a “huge, personal contribution” to Pollard’s campaign either:
http://www.vpap.org/cands/cand_donorlist.cfm?ToKey=COM00393&CycleID=2008&CycleType=Special
I see money from Virginia Professional Fire Fighters Association and the Virginia State Police Association but nothing from anyone at The Journal Press that I see.
Check on page 6. Of course, you need to also look at the Senate Contributions since he passed those funds over to his Delegate run. I don’t know about you, but $4,500 is a “huge” contribution to me.
The extended article was on the web (under Westmoreland), but NOT in the printed paper.
Uh…you mean the optometrist, the farmer, the miscellaneous health care worker, or the five retirees on page six?
As for his Senate campaign, no one gave him $4,500:
http://www.vpap.org/cands/cand_donorlist.cfm?ToKey=COM01352&CycleID=2007&CycleType=Regular