Being the target of back-biting, anonymous and unfounded attacks from those that have an aversion to the truth hardens a guy. So today's little email gem didn't take me by surprise because, over the years, I have learned that those with self-serving interest will say -- and do -- just about anything to maintain their delusional thought process to justify their means.
Which, to them, is all that matters.
And I quote:
"McCaslin,
Your obsession with the FOI (sic) is pathetic. You and your buddy (Joey) McCutchen thrive on the drama and live to stir s*** to draw attention to yourselves.
Why don't you leave the good men serving on the Fort Smith Board of Directors alone and go back to reporting on junior high basketball in Mulberry? You have a dislike for those guys and the city administrator that borders on lunacy.
Your (sic) a joke. STFU already.
Signed
One of your readers"
The bottom line? Of course, it came from an anonymous email address that appears to have been deleted after the missive was sent to me.
Let's review:
1) I fully admit I am obsessed with the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act. That precious part of our state law mandates that we (you, I, the even the rest of the media) can have access to the inner-workings of government so the crooked stuff they are doing can be discovered and exposed. If politicians were above-board and honest there would be no need for the FOIA.
2) While Joey McCutchen has been an open and helpful source on a number of stories over years, to call us "buddies" is a stretch. We agree on a lot of stuff about the FOIA. We also had a public disagreement at one of his FOIA seminars about the role of Facebook posts and conversations and to what extent the FOIA applies in an electronic information age. He was correct when it comes to the letter of the law, which is all that actually matters.
3) Good men on the board of directors? I do leave the good men on the board of directors alone. Hence...why you think I'm "unfair" to the others.
4) Ah...the Mulberry junior high basketball reference! One of my longtime tolls who remembers when I won "Best Sports Section" six years running from the Arkansas Press Association for large weeklies back in the day. A dedicated hater.
5) I don't have a personal dislike for any of the guys you referenced. Disdain? Disgust? Lack of trust? Appalled at the arrogance and complete disconnection from those that elected them? Count me in. You only get to lie about me, try to blackmail me, try to silence me, encourage sponsors not to advertise with me, bend the rules to suit your agenda and spend taxpayers dollars like they are your own so many times. Even Gandhi had a breaking point. And they shot and killed him in 1948.
6) YOUR thinly disguised ad hominem attack on me to deflect the misdeeds of YOUR heroes (or self) is the joke and YOU'RE kind of transparent in your goals. I'm sure you (and others) would like for me to STFU. To quote Dizzy Dean, it ain't happening.
7) You signed the email "one of your readers". So either you like what I write enough to keep coming back or the obsession tag is on you and you read what I write just to bitch and moan. Unfortunately, that's a thing. Dedicated trolls.
My "obsession" with three city directors and the city administrator is something I wear with a badge of courage. It extends to my mistrust of certain other employees of the city of Fort Smith (and some other local, county and state officials as well).
Wikipedia's entry on "public trust" says "the concept of public trust relates back to the origins of democratic government and its seminal idea that within the public lies the true power and future of a society; therefore, whatever trust the public places in its officials must be respected".
I do not and will not trust or respect elected officials and self-appointed monarchs who have, time-and-time, again proven they are not worthy of that trust. Especially when we are talking about officials that were elected by the skin of their teeth by an unengaged and apathetic public that lacks the cajones to do the right thing and remove them from office for their misdeeds.
When it comes to jokes, small-time politicians with bigtime delusions of grandeur are the punchline.
And the joke is on them.