The Courier Tribune's Annette Jordan Strikes (Out) Again: This Time On Public Records

Catching up with old business, a week or so ago there was a notable burst of white noise coming from the general direction of the Randolph County Tea Party about the availability of public records in our neck of the woods.

The story is on their website.  And their "report card" on transparency and open government in Randolph County is here.

Putting local government agencies through the paces produced some interesting results - what with the theory (I'd call it a myth - but we shall be getting to that) being that government and certain other public records (say, like the tax returns and identities of board members/officers of "non-profit" corporations) are "the property of the people" and all.

We-the-People have a right to know.  Our state Supremes say so. 

What's more, North Carolina's Public Records Act is supposed to be interpreted LIBERALLY in FAVOR of public access.  Exemptions are to be interpreted NARROWLY.

It's an argument I've been making - to DEAF EARS - since 2003.  Not that it's "relevant" or anything.

I won't re-hash results that the local Tea Party folks have so thoroughly documented in their report card, but the overall scores were as follows (and I'd say pretty embarrassing for a locale professing to practice the small town values):  The ABC (Alcoholic Beverage Control) Board, C;  The Asheboro City Schools, C;  City of Asheboro C Minus;  Randolph County Commissioners, B Minus; Randolph County Schools, F;  Randolph County Community College, D Minus;  Randolph County Tourism Development Board, F.

But I gotta say, based on what I know of the players, those were higher grades than I would have anticipated.

Enter the Courier Tribune's Annette Jordan (my favorite columnist) - whose column yesterday, entitled "Why are Public Records So Important?", IMMEDIATELY caught my eye.  As most of it was behind the paywall (which you can access online "for free" if you have a subscription), I could only catch the tease, so I e-mailed a friend who promptly fowarded the text for my review.

Annette, after attending a seminar held by the "Sunshine Center of the N.C. Open Government Coalition", offered a little more of the story behind the report card.  Testing North Carolina public records law was apparently the brain-child of Campbell University associate professor, Ed Johnson (no relation to this blogger), who directed his students (as a class project) to send four standard public records inquiries to various agencies in all 100 counties of North Carolina.

The results of the project were "disappointing" - with only 26 counties fully responding, and 7 blowing the requests off entirely.  Randolph County fared "fairly" in that scholastic exercise.  If you want to know the details, you can pay your way past the firewall, buy a newspaper, go to the public library . . . or get someone with a subscription to e-mail you.

During the project, Professor Ed Johnson's students apparently encountered many of the obfuscation tactics in which Dr. Mary Johnson has been well-schooled over the years.

Professor Johnson's project inspired the Randolph County Tea Party to spent about 2,000 man-&-woman hours doing its own research project - the results of which were linked earlier in this post.

Of course, the purpose of this post is not really to bemoan the fact that public records laws are not taken seriously and poorly enforced.  The point of this post is to skewer the Courier Tribune . . . the hometown newspaper that has treated me and others of my kind (that would be "the wrong people of Asheboro) like bastard stepchildren ever since David Renfro took the reigns years ago . . . when the theme of economic development in Asheboro and Randolph County (under the guidance of wife, Bonnie Renfro) became "shaft everybody you can for every dollar you can while you can".

It got Community One where it is today.

Annette actually answers her own question, "Why are public records important?" fairly early on in her column (lest I be accused of the theft of "intellectual property" - insert hearty guffaw - I herein acknowledge that I am directly quoting her - in blue, because her thinking is just so damned progressive):  

Because democracy functions best when citizens know what their government is doing. And frankly, government functions best when people know what they are doing. It’s human nature. We all behave better when we’re under a watchful eye.

As regular readers well know, I've got no problem with any of that.  But as Annette herself notes, what goes on in real life - especially here in Randolph County - is very different from reality. 

And I've got a BIG problem with liars, posers and hypocrites.

So I've really got to take issue with Annette's suspicions about the "link" between an agency's compliance with public records law and the presence of "strong newspapers" in the area (again, I am directly quoting from her newspaper column . . . nominally regurgitated here for the purposes of critical analysis under doctrine of "fair use"):

After the seminar, I asked (Professor) Johnson if he found any link between counties’ responses and the presence of strong newspapers in their area. In other words, if county officials are used to dealing with public records requests from the media, are they quicker to respond to requests from the public?

He told me he didn’t know the answer to that, but it was worth investigating and he would let me know his findings.

I suspect there is a link . . . all the more reason why people should value their newspapers for picking up police reports, covering council meetings and poring over budgets.

Who better to shine the sunlight on the people’s business than papers?

"Strong newspapers???".  Yes, readers, I too had to wipe off my computer screen after the iced-tea sinus wash.

Because, if our oh-so-principled Annette had asked DOCTOR MARY JOHNSON about her experience with public records law and REALITY in Randolph County . . . I'd say that eight years of DATA totally debunk the theory our reporter would like to propagate . . . i.e. that the Courier is a "strong newspaper" with a "watchful eye".

In Asheboro, it's raining with not even a speck of the sun in sight.

Let us review:

IN RANDOLPH COUNTY, "NON-PROFIT" HOSPITAL EXECUTIVES CAN REPEATEDLY LIE UNDER OATH ABOUT THE "CONFIDENTIALITY" OF . . . WAIT FOR IT . . . PUBLIC RECORDS . . . AND (AFTER WORKING THEIR BIG SWINDLE) GET CAUGHT DOING IT . . . BUT IN RANDOLPH COUNTY, IT'S NOT (1) PROSECUTABLE AS THE FELONY IT IS, or (2) GROUNDS FOR TERMINATION OF THE EXECUTIVES WHO LIED, or (3) CONSIDERED NEWSWORTHY BY THE PARAGONS-OF-JOURNALISTIC-VIRTUE-WITH-THEIR-WATCHFUL-EYES AT THE COURIER TRIBUNE.

SUNLIGHT, ANNETTE?  REALLY?  DO YOU REALLY WANT TO GO THERE? 

BECAUSE LET'S NOT STOP JUST WITH THE IN-YOUR-FACE FRACTURING OF LAWS BY PEOPLE CHARGED WITH THE PUBLIC GOOD - THAT WENT DOWN RIGHT UNDER YOUR NOSE. 

LET'S MOVE RIGHT ON ALONG TO THE FACT THAT, FOR WELL OVER A YEAR, I'VE BEEN TRYING TO GET RANDOLPH HOSPITAL TO PROVIDE A SIMPLE ACCOUNTING OF WHO SERVED ON ITS BOARDS OF DIRECTORS AND CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP EVER SINCE I (AS A YOUNG & NAIVE PUBLIC SERVANT) SWALLOWED THE BS LINES RANDOLPH FED ME ABOUT "SMALL TOWN VALUES" AND "CARE YOU CAN TRUST".

I WANT TO KNOW . . . INDEED, YOU COULD SAY I HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW . . . WHO WERE/ARE THE (RIGHT) UPSTANDING CITIZENS WHO SAT BACK ON THEIR PHAT, WELL-NETWORKED TUCKUSES AND LET BOB MORRISON AND STEVEN EBLIN DO ALL OF THE NASTY, UNDERHANDED, AMORAL AND ILLEGAL THINGS THEY DID TO ME FOR THE AWFUL, HORRIBLE SIN OF DOING MY JOB, THEN BLOWING THE WHISTLE? 

MOREOVER, WHAT COMPOSITE OF COMMUNITY GENIUSES GAVE THESE LIARS AND THIEVES RAISES YEAR AFTER YEAR - EVEN AFTER THEY WERE CAUGHT BREAKING THE LAW?

And what have I gotten from Randolph since submitting my public records request? 

NOTHING.  ZERO.  ZIP.  NADDA.

The hospital's lawyers (if I had to guess, the same lawyers who suborned perjury and/or covered it up afterwards) say I'm only entitled to see the last three years of IRS 990's (which I can see already online on Guidestar . . . something that must have slipped the minds of all those executives and lawyers who failed to mention that back when they were lying to the Court) . . . and, as a taxpayer & former public servant, I have no right to see a list of the Board/Corporate memberships prior to that time!?!

So much for interpreting public records law liberally . . . or defining exemptions narrowly.

IF WE WERE ASSIGNING GRADES, RANDOLPH HOSPITAL WOULD GET AN F MINUS.

And WHERE, the thoughtful reader might ask, has the Courier Tribune's "watchful eye" been in all of this? 

I will tell you where.  The same place it's always been . . . just above where its permanently-stained nose has been firmly entrenched for all of the last THIRTEEN YEARS . . . buried in the deep-pockets covering Bob Morrison's butt. 

And the only "strong" thing about that is the stench.

Do you REALLY want to toss the snowball, Annette, that it MATTERS if your reporters attend City Council meetings . . . when they PUT DOWN THEIR PEN . . . OR WALK OUT OF THE MEETING AS CITIZENS STAND TO SPEAK?

Would you at least admit that perhaps that my life and career were a little bit MORE IMPORTANT than Professor Johnson's school project?

And I've got NEWS for you, Annette.  Randolph Hospital IS NOT SCARED of the Courier Tribune.

Indeed, Annette, Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin are LAUGHING at you.  And that's because you-and-all-of-your-reporter-pals are bought-and-paid for . . . just like Liz Taylor's wholesome whore in Butterfield 8 (I couldn't resist a timely passing reference to the recently-departed actress with the violet eyes).  While the higher-ups at your newspaper fancy themselves as some kind of glorified "partner" with the hospital/other community leaders (don't feel bad, I bought the line once too) . . . only promoting the rosey/positive stuff and totally ignoring the bad in order to serve the common economic good (it's worked swell so far - just ask the shareholders of Community One - or the editors of Forbes magazine) . . . the truth is that you are simply patsies and pawns-with-pens to Bob and Steve. 

You're being played for fools.

Randolph Hospital OWNS you.  The whole town knows it.  And most everybody I know has stopped paying for the privilege of reading press releases disguised as "news". 

I mean, puhlease.  There's NO DOUBT in anyone's mind that when open comments on the stories posted on your JOKE-of-a-website started getting way-too-hot for Bob & company to handle, phone calls were made to the ad executives now running your parent company in Las Vegas, and none-too-subtle demands were made to put your new publisher and all of her very bold ideas for restoring the newspaper's integrity and credibility on a short leash.

Then your newspaper dived behind that ridiculous paywall.

You showed our community exactly what was important and it wasn't "open" anything.

And now your publisher is dancing with Bob and the rest of the "Randolph County Stars" . . . that this year includes the lawyer-who-sold-me-out.

His little girl is on the ABC Board now - and working for the county.  Funny how those things work.  And the bed-fellows just keep getting stranger and stranger.

So, in closing, Ms. Jordan, spare me your bold sanctimonies on public records . . or the power of a strong local press in this era of widespread public corruption propped up by corporatized, SUCK-UP journalism.  Just like Edward-Cone-of-the-Moses-Cone-Heatlhcare-System-Cones (who weekend-before-last lost all vestiges of respect I may have ever had for him as he graduated from smug blogger-king/pseudo-journalist to petty cyber-stalker - while I was confronted, in the middle of rural nowhere, with a clinical situation akin to two nuclear reactors simultaneously melting down), as a journalist, you are about as useless as . . .

. . . oh, I dunno . . . tits-on-a-boar-hog an unenforced public records law.

3/25 Afternoon Update:

Yesterday, Sir Buzz-of-the-Armfields called to report that J.D. Walker called him to pick his brain about Community One (the Buzzman hasn't worked there for years).  This was after Buzz sent the Courier an e-mail that challenged them to get a story out by Saturday.  J.D. alluded (without mentioning me or my blog that nobody reads) that accusations were swirling about the community that the Courier was "covering up" the story (to be fair, I wouldn't characterize it so much as totally "covering up" the story - that would be what they've done to me - but more like a whole-sale whitewash of both the failure of the bank and Mike Miller's "retirement" - followed by his hop, skip & jump to the President's chair at Pfeiffer College).  J.D. maintained that it was very hard to get people to go "on the record" with a story.

And I'm sorry.  That's just same crap/stale excuses, different newspaper.  There are people all over Asheboro who want to go on-the-record with their stories - people who want to see real investigative journalism back in our local newspaper's repertoire.  The problem has ALWAYS been (at least since David Renfro took over the reigns) that the Courier runs-with/sucks-up-to all of the right-upstanding mill-town cliques that have, over the years, run our little town into the ground . . . the kind of cliques that sue people (using the taxpayer's money) for telling the truth and then have their embarrassing retreats covered by second-page short-takes.

It's Lake WoBeGon journalism.  Everything's sunny.  Everyone's beautiful.  Nothing bad ever happens.

And it's not true.

If the Greensboro N&R (whose record for journalism - and citizen journalism - in Randolph County is abysmal) and Fox 8 and the Triad Business Journal can all put out stories on Community One that put people on-the-record, J.D.'s uber-lame excuse just doesn't fly.

I've gotten a number of positive/appreciative comments on this post, and I want to tell folks that I do very much appreciate it.  As one of those readers ruefully observed, my family and I have lived the utter failure of print journalism in Asheboro and Randolph County . . . and it has left deep scars that will NEVER heal. 

SOMEONE HAS GOT TO STAND UP NOW AND SAY, "BULLSHIT, ON YOU, ANNETTE, AND J.D., AND CHIP AND (NOW) DIANE!!!  YOU HAVE NOT DONE YOUR JOBS!!!"

I did mine.