MAN ABOUT TOWN: A Web of Intrigue
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Falls Church Times Columnist
August 30, 2010
Before the days of the Internet, getting “published” wasn’t that easy. Sure, you could pay a vanity press to privately print your work, but that didn’t mean anyone would read it. Today, though, any Tom, Dick, or Harriet can write a blog accessible around the world.
This seems like a useful innovation, but how does one separate fact from fiction? Truth from garbage? That’s one thing not even Google has figured out.
In little Falls Church, news sources are limited. For two years now we’ve had the Falls Church Times, but as a volunteer organization, this online newspaper doesn’t pretend to be able to cover all the local news of import. So we’re still often left with the News-Press, which recently set a record of 1,000 continuous weeks of publication.
Unfortunately, the News-Press, having over the years become accustomed to holding the only key to local publication, recently committed an egregious triple sin: First, it reported as “news” a couple of sentences posted anonymously on an obscure political blog. Then came an editorial bemoaning the “news.” Finally, the editor’s henchman laid out an action plan in reaction to the “news.”
If your reaction is “so what,” allow me to connect the dots. The News-Press editor remains in shock after the election of a mayor he opposed. First he petulantly reported that Mayor Baroukh had declined a request to congratulate the newspaper on its thousandth edition. Then, when it came time for the annual “State of the City” interview with the mayor, he handed the job off to an assistant.
It’s clear that the News-Press editor, along with his henchman, the ex-mayor’s husband, want very, very badly to see the end of Mayor Baroukh. Since Baroukh is a federal employee, and under the Hatch Act is not eligible to run in a partisan election, the ploy is to institute partisan elections for City Council.
After last May’s City Council election, someone wrote on a website that “two Republican-endorsed candidates [Johannah Barry and Ira Kaylin] won seats on the town council.” In fact, there was no more a Republican endorsement for Barry and Kaylin than there is a town council (it’s a city council). For that matter, both Barry and Kaylin happen to be Democrats.
Did the News-Press make any effort to corroborate the anonymous claim? Why not ask the chairman of the local Republican Committee whether there had been any endorsement? Instead, the henchman wrote in the appropriately named Little Weed that “The Republican Party endorsed the nonpartisan city council campaigns of Ira Kaylin and Johannah Barry in the recent city elections.” There followed an editorial stating: “Partisanship was already a factor in last May’s election, no matter who was aware of it, or not. By the same token, there will be no way to keep it out of the next City Council election in November 2011.”
As soon as the News-Press reported this claim, the original anonymous blogger yanked it. That speaks volumes, although you can still read it in Google’s cache. Meanwhile, the editor and henchman’s efforts appear to have fooled no one. Just read the contemptuous comments on the News-Press website.
Among those chastising the so-called “reporting” was a new voice on the Web writing under the name of “Falls Church Independent,” who said:
When I saw the allegations in this week’s News-Press that Johannah Barry and Ira Kaylin’s campaign for City Council had been endorsed and supported by the Falls Church Republican Committee, I was intrigued. So, like any good journalist, I decided to investigate. I went straight to one of the people who would know best, City Councilwoman Johannah Barry, and asked her for her take on the allegations. “Our electoral success was due to delivering a clear and concise message which resonated with City voters,” she responded, denying that she or Ira Kaylin had ever “asked for, claimed, or received, an endorsement from any party.”
“Falls Church Independent” concludes: “Let’s leave partisanship out of City elections, no matter which side it’s coming from. [News-Press editor] Benton and [henchman] Gardner have seen fit to use this as an excuse to demand the Democratic Party’s involvement in Falls Church elections. Thankfully, I’m sure the people of Falls Church will see through their charade.”
Well said, “Falls Church Independent” — but who are you? To his great credit, “Falls Church Independent” posted the following response:
My full name is Michael Irvine. I did not give it out initially due to my belief that who I am is irrelevant to what I post. . . . I am a junior at George Mason High School; my interest in government and politics led me to create this blog. I realize that with that revelation, some readers may be less apt to take me seriously.
Michael, you are following in the tradition of Benjamin Franklin and Mark Twain, both of whom as youths published articles anonymously, knowing that otherwise they would not be taken seriously. Welcome to the Web — and perhaps your elders can take an object lesson.
By George Southern
August 30, 2010
I’m wondering how the Councilors won because of an “endorsement” no one ever heard of until after the election….
Good for you, George! It has long been a question as to why the editor of the News Press would employ the husband of the Mayor (at the time) to write a column in his Newspaper. It smacks of collusion. And I, for one, LOVE the Falls Church Times and think you are doing a great job!!!
Thanks for putting out what I hope is the last word on this whole absurd affair. There are a host of valuable lessons here, ranging from the bad (lazy or worse journalism) to good (yes, high school students are capable of rational thinking and hard work).
Thank you, George, for bringing this to my attention. I quit reading anything of a political nature in the News Press years ago, solely because if its bias.
And, Michael, you may be “only” a junior in high school, but your analysis is more astute than many of your Falls Church City elders.
I see I’ve been quoted. Thanks for your words of encouragement, George, Mike, and Rebecca!
Many years ago Maurice Chevalier sang a song entitled “Thank God For Little Girls”. But today in Falls Church it should be modified to read “Thank God For Little Boys,” except that the young man at George Mason, Michael Irvine, may be six feet plus.
One would think that Benton & Co. could do better than to come across as a couple of ham-fisted Chavistas coordinating their power grab. Now, because of the efforts of Mr. Irvine, we have statements from both the 8th District and Falls Church GOP chairs that there was no involvement in the election, and thus this flimsy pretext for inserting partisanship into our elections falls apart. Mr. Irvine, I might politely suggest that you bill the FCNP for doing the investigative work that they should have been doing in the first place.
Y’all in the comment chain here may want to surf over to the News-Press site for the comment chain under Nick’s editorial (“Partisanship Soils…”). Fascinating post by a GFranklin46 . . .
Mike Irvine, looks like some interesting info. for you to dig into & maybe write about on your FCindependent site.
And George, I’m not sure that a fair-minded observer could go along with your characterization of the Virginia Values Voters PAC and its evident parent, the Family Research Council PAC, as “obscure” blogging outfits. VVV PAC describes itself as “a political action committee, organized to help provide support to candidates for local and statewide office in Virginia….Every year local and state officials propose, debate, and vote on legislation that directly impacts our families. The goal of the VVV PAC is to support those elected officials and candidates who stand up for marriage, family, limited government and the sanctity of human life….
VVVPAC has put together the talent and leadership to make a powerful difference in the hardest-fought and most important political races for all of 2009.”
And anyone who has covered national politics will tell you that the Family Research Council is anything but a small-time outfit. They play on the big stage; see http://www.frcaction.org/