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Watch What You Read the Trib
Posted 08-05-2002
Recently, there has been much talk in Westmoreland County about the
state of the two major political parties. The Democrats recently elected a
new chairperson, and the Republicans had a minor flare-up concerning the
re-election of their current chairperson. It is interesting that a spin has
been put on things in this county that the success of some statewide and
national Republican candidates really has something to do with the local
parties. I think it has much more to do with the impact of the Tribune
Review than it does with the power of each local party.
The local Republicans are no
better organized, and certainly their leadership is no more capable, than
the local Democrats, they just have that 800-pound gorilla called the
Tribune Review on their side. Anyone who reads the paper, and at least one
other newspaper as an alternative, knows what I'm talking about. For more
than 30 years now, the newspaper's publisher has been carrying out his
social engineering project on the people of this county, and it has worked.
We've seen voting trends toward Republicans far exceed any changes in party
registration. The paper's editorial page is hardly subtle in its right-wing
flavor, and it really makes little effort at balance. The syndicated
columnists that are published are by far presenting the right-wing
viewpoint, and the newspaper's own editorials do the same.
This newspaper spewed forth a
non-stop stream of attacks on the Clintons from 1992 to the present. It
hasn't stopped with Bill Clinton's exit from office and always has included
attacks on Senator Hillary Clinton. The effect? Clinton won our county by
21,000 votes over George H.W. Bush in 1992. Four short years later, against
what was a weaker opponent in Bob Dole, he only won our county by 1,600
votes. By 2000, Al Gore lost the county by 9,000 votes even though he won
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by 300,000 votes.
The impact is different
locally because we have a chance to counteract some of the paper's efforts
through grassroots campaigning. We have a legislative delegation that is
almost all Democratic, and every county official except the ones mandated
for minority representation are Democrats. Part of the reason that the
Tribune Review advocates for home rule is because they see it as a way of
lessening the number of Democratic county officeholders. But, the power of
the paper to shape an image of national and statewide candidates and
officeholders far outweighs anything local parties can do.
The paper did a story on
voter registration numbers getting slightly closer, and the local Republican
chairwoman was quoted as saying our county had a lot of Democrats because
there had been many uneducated immigrants who blindly voted Democratic. But,
their children are more educated and that is why the registration numbers
are getting closer. First of all, that is insulting to an entire generation
of immigrants and their children. Many may not have been afforded
educational opportunities, but it doesn't mean they weren't intelligent
enough to know why they were voting a certain way. Secondly, that viewpoint
isn't borne out by national data on the most recent presidential election
that showed more college-educated voters voted Democratic than Republican in
the last presidential election.
It is even becoming more and
more apparent that the paper is giving every utterance of our republican
commissioner credibility. They give him free press on his home rule effort,
even when nothing newsworthy happens. Last December, they allowed his
non-budget to appear credible even though it was nothing more than a bunch
of numbers he threw together to "one up" the Democrats. There is no one
person that can concoct a $270 million budget. It takes a team effort of
professionals, with checks and balances that ensure the numbers add up. I've
been through many more budgets than my Republican colleague has, and I'd be
the first to admit, I rely on others to crunch the numbers. Our role is to
examine numbers and make changes. We set targets and work to lay the
groundwork for future budgets. But when it is a Republican pontificating,
the Tribune Review will attempt to make it sound credible.
Party politics, in general,
have evolved over the last twenty years. On the Democratic side, there is
less straight party voting. Into the void of less party control has stepped
the primary news source in the county. The power of the paper is magnified
by the fact that the publisher bought up almost all of the competition. The
Valley Independent, Valley News Dispatch, and the Daily Courier, are all
owned by the Tribune Review. Even the Standard Observer, before it was shut
down, was owned by them. The only daily paper left in the county that isn't
owned by them is the Latrobe Bulletin, and its limited circulation doesn't
allow it to be a real competitor. So, there really aren't any alternative
news choices for Westmoreland County readers except the Post Gazette, and it
gives minuscule coverage of Westmoreland County news.
I know the demographics of
our county have been changing, so some changes in voter performance can be
attributed to that phenomenon. But, it would be interesting to see what
really would happen with voter performance if the primary news source in our
county really tried to present a balanced perspective of the political
landscape. |
