Mason County Press and COLDNews: Exposing Hypocrisy Their Own Way

[XLFD]

The Mason County Press' Rob Alway found a couple things of interest on the day after Christmas about the SS Badger's severest critics, the magnate who secured some government loans to build the Lake Express (the Badger's crosslake competitor), and Dick Durbin who has come out strongly against the Badger and its polluting ways.

 

In October, Sheldon Lubar (the seasoned suit to the left), who with his son, David, built the Lake Express ferry business, wrote to Wisconsin's governor.  The governor was working to ask the EPA to temporarily extend the Badger's operating permit.

Lubar said Governor Walker's support of extending the permit was tantamount to "supporting further pollution of our state's most precious asset: Lake Michigan."

"You and your administration have chosen to support a Michigan-based business that pollutes our waters despite the availability of cost-effective solutions to become compliant, and employs, by their own admission, no more than five full-time equivalent positions in Wisconsin," wrote Lubar.

 

Well it just so happens Sheldon Lubar is well invested in coal, as per his website:  http://www.lubar.com/portfolio.html  Look at the Sunrise Coal holdings under Hallador Petroleum in his portfolio (line 3).  “Sunrise Coal, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hallador Energy Company, owns and operates an underground coal mine located in Carlisle, Indiana,” according to www.sunrisecoal.com. “Sunrise mines approximately three million tons per year and sells about 90 percent of its coal to several Indiana utilities.

 

Another outspoken opponent of the continuation of the Badger’s use of coal has been Sen. Dick Durbin (Dem) of Illinois, although his state is one of the largest coal users in the country. According to www.sourcewatch.com, Illinois was ranked as number 5 in the nation for use of coal power plants.

In addition, Durbin, the Senate majority leader, received $19,000 in campaign contributions from CSX Corporation, which proclaims itself as the largest transporter of coal east of the Mississippi River.

Durbin also received $17,000 from Exelon Corporation which owns several coal burning plants. He also received $16,000 from Ameren Corporation, the second largest producer of electricity in Illinois. Ameren gets 64% of its electricity from coal, according to the website www.sourcewatch.com.

Campaign contributions were between 2007 and 2012. That information can be found here.

 

For even more get the original story at:  http://www.masoncountypress.com/2012/12/26/opponents-to-coal-burnin...

The City of Ludington Daily News (COLDNews) Managing Editor Steve Begnoche also points out hypocrisy with his own editorial on the day after Christmas.  The COLDNews, just one year ago decided to double-down on mediocrity by firing their best journalists.  That includes the already mentioned Rob who is bringing back real journalism to the area, Jennifer Linn Hartley, and Lisa Enos.  The COLDNews has never recovered from the vacuum created by the loss of these journalists, who were probably singled out for their general integrity. 

 

But Editor Steve's contribution to pointing out hypocrisy is aimed squarely at his mirror.  I have never seen anyone in the newspaper business so out of touch with what is actually happening.  Can he be so naive to overlook all the odd things happening in Mason County, that he actually prints an editorial like the one below, encouraging us to resolve to talk to elected officials in 2013?  But before I jump on his hypocritical ways, here is his editorial on page 4:

In his usual ham-handed, wishy-washy way, Steve tries to make the case that you need to boldly go forth and talk to those who represent you.  That is funny material coming from this source, being that the COLDNews totally skewed the reportage of facts in my (and others) continued conflicts with Ludington City Hall, and only begrudgingly did they ever notice the deficiencies in the Baby Kate investigation by our officials, or the underhanded way the wind farm was brought into Mason County, once again by officials acting covertly and without challenge by the local paper.  Not to mention all the less substantially developed stories that should be touched upon, only some of which have been covered here at the Torch, or at Mason County Press, to date.

 

I have a resolution to the staff of the COLDNews:  talk less to the public officials, and more to the people of this area.  Only then will you get back in touch with what really matters, who really should be setting the agenda, instead of obviously being the continued shill for a non-transparent and corrupted local system.  And when you talk with the officials yourselves, do so as a journalist, not as a transcriptionist writing in the "Amen corner".  Otherwise, an 'editorial' like the above only exposes further the hypocrisy that is often so invisible to the hypocrite.

[Willy]

Excellent article by Mr. Alway.

As far as Mr. Begonche goes, doesn't he realize how silly he sounds especially when his paper helps the local politicians with their nasty habit of avoiding public scrutiny. That editorial has got to be one of the most hypocritical articles to appear in print. He and his paper fail to report truthful, accurate and concise accounts of what transpires at City Hall and in County Government. Then he advises folks to talk to the same people that he has been conspiring with to help hide their potentially corrupt behavior.

[XLFD]

With all the allegations I made through the year with his City's government violations of FOIA and OMA which my transparency-bias says are very valid, I find the above editorial very misdirected.  Bignacho should be calling for the elected officials to be talking to us this year, not the reverse. 

The last couple years normal people spoke up about local issues to our government, and were resoundingly muted or misrepresented by those governments and their local newspaper.  When was the last time you can remember a Daily News article questioning the local governments actions or direction?