Sometimes, you have to trust your gut. A piece of mail delivered to the Go office last week conveniently arrived with no return address. Postmarked March 21 in Scranton, the seemingly subtle manila envelope came with a cover letter of sorts, warning me about the criminal history of a political candidate. Sure enough, said history was enclosed with the note. It’s not the first time I’ve gotten such mail, especially given the unending nature of elections in our region. I also suspect it’s from someone who has sent me similar information in the past. Is the information important to know? Certainly. It raises important details about a person’s ability to serve effectively.
But there is a catch. At the end of the day, it’s a reporter’s name that ends up on the article, not that of someone running a political campaign. The supposed power brokers in northeastern Pennsylvania tend to forget that. The same type of mail – sent April 5, 2011 from Wilkes-Barre to discuss a campaign worker and not a candidate himself – arrived last year during one heavily contested race among Democrats. I won’t give merit to either piece of mail or slander any names until the sender decides to put his return address on an envelope. One might ask why I’d take such a stance. After all, those pieces undoubtedly sell newspapers, right?
But being a news editor isn’t my only role in life. When I leave our office each day, I return home to two joyous kids and a loving wife. I can look them in the eye and know that I did my best to give our interview subjects a fair shake. While it may sounds pompous, that brings me comfort. My kids deserve a role model, not a coward who bends to political whims. I suggest that any campaign coordinator who wants to sling mud in Go Lackawanna do so with an advertisement as long as I’m here. Put your money where your mouth is. I won’t be anyone’s puppet for political gain.