After months of self-serving (and expensive to the tax-payers) grandstanding on the part of the City of Fort Smith concerning the ongoing issue of trying to usurp the rights of citizens to know what goes on in our local government, the local newspaper decided to FINALLY give voice to something that has been obvious to the masses.
Using their editorial space and calling for the City to "1. Admit you messed up. 2. Agree not to do it again. 3. Stop appealing judgments that have found you in violation of Arkansas state law" is long overdue and frankly a little refreshing since the Daily Disappointment has been little more than a mouthpiece for the malfeasance and borderline corruption at City Hall in the past.
The bottom line? We have been there for almost a year. Welcome to our reality.
The newspaper hasn't quite been as "all in" in their efforts to back up the "progessive" movement in the city as a certain political blog has, whose staff is seemingly just a little to the left of George Soros, but the good ol' TR has been guilty of burying their proverbial head in the sand and allowing the Hole in the Wall Gang to pretty much skate unchallenged.
Intellectually, I get it. Revenues for newspaper have been in a steady decline for years. When I was selling newspaper ad space in the Eighties, the rates were ridiculous back then --and I knew it. As more and more people have moved their advertising to other outlets, the emphasis on "classifieds" which include "legal notices" has kept many newspapers afloat.
Arkansas state law says that "legal notices" by a government entity have to be published in the publication with the largest general circulation in the market served by that government entity. For better or for worse, that's the ol' Daily Disappointment.
Better to not bite the hand that feeds you than to make waves. I guess.
We work on ad revenue here as well. We know who we are and what we can deliver. And we're upfront and honest about it. People are starting to catch on, and after eight-and-a-half, we're self-sustaining. No one is getting rich here, but the bills are paid and the paychecks clear.
And don't get me wrong. We want as much revenue as we can get.
But on our terms.
We have pissed off some people. People that got pissed off because we refuse to be part of the cover-up or the politically correct BS. Those people have gone out and intentionally tried to poison the waters...not only with those who ARE advertising with us but also with those that MIGHT do so in the future.
It's petty, unbecoming and pathetic. Just like the people that engage in that type fn unethical behavior because they control what we say or do.
There was an attempt to buy us out. "Here's 'X' amount of dollars if you'll just shut up and go away" out of one side of their mouth while telling advertisers out the other side of their pie-hole that we are "just a insignificant blog that no one reads".
That sure was a hefty offer just to stifle our "insignificance".
And part of this revenue stream thing is my fault. I have refused to take ad money from certain businesses and political candidates because of my own misguided set of ethics and principles.
But Daddy's got to sleep at night.
Even with that, and all things considered, we're still right about where I figured we would be at this point...maybe even a little better.
We started this whole circus because we wholeheartedly believe in a free press, which can only exist when those that oppose it are held at bay. Not only has the actions of the City of Fort Smith been laughable in an attempt to keep city business in the dark to benefit a handful of "behind-the-scenes" movers and shakers, but it also speaks to the efforts of those people---and their elected and salaried flunkies--to "fundamentally change" our community.
The taxpayers are on the hook for something in the neighborhood of $40,000 because Keith Lau, Mike Lorenz and Andre Good cannot put their egos aside long enough to accept the fact that they are, have been and always be wrong about conducting city business on their terms-- under a bushel -- and violating the law when doing so.
At every turn, they have been told they are in the wrong. From local attorneys, judges, legal scholars and citizens with any common sense. And yet, they continue their futile fight, aided by a City Administrator who has gone along with-- nay encouraged -- the plan.
The political arrogance and ridiculous self-evaluation of those that deem themselves smarter than you and me is appalling. They want to do what they do, when they want to do it, the way they want to do it and they don't want us peons bothering them about the details.
And this utterly ridiculous assertion that the City made city emails "more open" by posting an "email-export" tool on the city website is well, utterly ridiculous.
One, the thing is updated at the rate of about ever six-to-seven weeks and when it is updated, there's not much there. Three of the directors have pretty much quit using their city email address to do business.
Two, what is there has been bleach-washed better than Hillary's hard-drives.
We "hear rumor" of emails from city directors addressing city business with other directors and citizens that are not showing up on the "email export" at all.
Those free, personal email accounts are not that hard to come by. And are not subjected to the FOIA.
It's hard for the fox to rob the hen house when the farmer is watching. And the fox is well aware of that fact.
At this point, even the fox would have probably given up.