Princess Anne and the Daily Times

As the sleepy little town of Princess Anne heads to its town elections, our local arm of Gannett seems determined to have a disproportionate say in who gets elected. By controlling access to its editorial pages, and slanting its news coverage, the Daily Times and its sister publication, the Somerset Herald, refuse to provide more than one side of the story. Should Salisbury residents be surprised?

Before anyone starts, this IS NOT a “defend Frank White” piece. In fact, that’s why I was given the assignment.

Scandal Upon Scandal

The Daily Times and company have seemed to have no problem going after town governments like Princess Anne and Berlin. I’ve got no problem there; what dismays me is their unwillingness to hold other elected officials like Salisbury councilwoman Louise Smith or former mayor Barrie Tilghman.

Case in point – on March 11 the DT ran an op-ed criticizing the Princess Anne Town Commission for “being defensive” about criticism regarding $900 expenditure. Fair enough. It’s just odd that there has been NO criticism when Smith (or her predecessor, Mike Dunn) gaveled citizens out of order for criticizing them. (Of course, slumlords where perfectly free to attack Salisbury mayor Jim Ireton and councilwoman Debbie Campbell last night.)

Double Standard

On April 28, the Somerset Herald published a letter to the editor from a Mr. Donald Price attacking town commissioner Garland Hayward. I know neither Mr. Price nor Mr. Hayward. However, it has been brought to our attention that the Herald’s Liz Holland refused to run a letter countering Mr. Price’s assertions from town commissioner Frank White.

In Mr. Price’s letter (p1), he writes:

For over 20 years, you (Hayward) have been a do-nothing commissioner, but you never missed a chance to accept credit for hard work done by someone else.

Again, I think that Mr. Price has a right to his opinion. His opinion may even be correct. However, I am deeply disturbed that Ms. Holland refused print a counter-letter from White without some heavy editing (highlighted portions on pp 2-3).

Mr. Price neglected to state that he was a former commissioner (and the Somerset Herald did not note it either). White asserted that Price’s service on the commission was less than notable. He also answered an assertion by Price regarding a contracting matter. Yet, Holland deleted this and stated that White should “take the high road”.

It’s interesting that former Princess Anne town manager Jay Parker (who was mentioned in White’s original letter) is now a candidate for the town commission. It’s also interesting that Ms. Holland claims that she couldn’t verify certain claims made by White.

Try this one Liz -

It appears that Parker allowed the town’s fund balance to slip into the red 3 out of 5 years he served as town manager. This is in direct violation of town’s code AND Maryland law.

Of course, to the best of my knowledge, the Somerset Herald (nor the Daily Times) has reported that commission candidate Joey Gardner is also an employee of our local arm of Gannett. Well, that’s the rest of the story.