Monday, March 23, 2009

State police commander killed in western Mexico

State police commander killed in western Mexico
Posted by Frank Smith at 23.3.09

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is what lunatics like Pelosi want to open our borders and invite in. She recently said it was unAmerican to restrict people from coming here, and that if she had her way, she would deport the INS agents instead.

March 23, 2009 at 7:59 PM
Anonymous said...

Other Opinion Columnists
New Britain Herald �” watchdog or lapdog?
By Rick Guinness
Published: Monday, March 23, 2009 6:09 AM EDT
All eyes were on the New Britain Herald and the Bristol Press this past January when media mogul Michael Schroeder took over from Journal Register Corp.

“Finally!” I thought, “someone who can see the potential for profit in a newsroom driven by editor Marc Levy, a staunch traditionalist in the field of journalism and a true watchdog of government.

But maybe that’s not what Schroeder was looking for when he took over circa Jan. 16.

In my view, from the time he took over, he has showed himself to be nothing more than a lapdog for New Britain Mayor Timothy Stewart.

Within days of taking over the paper[s], Schroeder decreed that Stewart be quoted in any article in which Democrats expressed criticism of him. If Stewart declined to comment to me (I was covering City Hall at the time), he would be contacted by another reporter of his choosing.

If that didn’t work, Schroeder would play reporter and get the comments from the mayor himself.

Schroeder told me in front of the whole newsroom that Stewart didn’t like me, and that something needed to be done about it.

Fortunately I didn’t have to find out, because I became too sick to ever go back to work.

Then, on March 5, I learned that Schroeder had fired Mark Levy.

Thank God, I thought. I can’t see Levy being a lapdog for anyone.

Couldn’t use quotes

The PR effort for Stewart became so ridiculous that in one of my last stories for the paper, Schroeder told me I could not use the quotes I had transcribed from a phone conversation with former Democratic Mayor Lucian Pawlak regarding how he and other prominent Democrats were condemning Stewart’s threats against council member Greg Gerratana. Gerratana was investigating rumors that Parks and Recreation Department employees were being used on a job at Stanley Golf Course restaurant that the common council had approved for a private contractor. Stewart threatened Gerratana with jail.

What did Pawlak say?

That this was a new low in New Britain politics.

Levy managed to get some of the quotes back into the story against the initial objections of Schroeder, but the story — which had been laid out on the cover as the lead article — was back-paged.

I don’t begrudge anyone for trying to preserve relationships with high-level sources. Access is great. But are journalists supposed to jump through hoops to appease sources?

Besides, I was always able to get comments from Stewart — right up until Schroeder took over as the mayor’s publicist.

Mayor Stewart told me on many occasions that he was going to have Marc Levy and I fired. Now we are both gone.

Stewart said he was convinced we had a liberal Democratic mindset that made it impossible for him to receive fair treatment, which was nonsense.

I wrote extensively about Stewart’s laudable efforts to rebuild downtown and keep taxes down — to the point that the Democrats called me “the mayor’s newsboy.”

But then, when we covered issues that the mayor and his supporters did not want covered — such as the mayor’s ongoing feud with the local firefighters’ union. Stewart and his supporters — comprised of the old school, conservative Democrats and the local GOP cabal.

Stewart went ballistic when we covered his various attempts to secure his full pension benefits as a firefighter with 18½ years on the job — he needs 20. He is currently on leave so that he can serve in office.

After winning a third term in 2007, Stewart began to violate the FOI Act by barring us from public meetings, and his wild outbursts of profanity in City Hall became more common.

A personal encounter

Several weeks before Schroeder appeared on the scene, on the afternoon of Dec. 23, Stewart tried to start a fight at City Hall at a Christmas party Stewart had staged on the entire second floor of City Hall (during business hours).

I was there simply to interview Gerratana regarding an ethics ordinance that he and Alderman Phil Sherwood had proposed, and knew nothing about any Christmas party — that is until Stewart rushed up to me and told me I could not go to it.

When I failed to depart, and started taking pictures, he threatened to knock my teeth out and have me removed. Police told me if I pressed a criminal complaint against the mayor for threatening and breach of peace that Stewart would press a complaint against me for trespassing.

I recently won two back-to-back FOI complaint cases against Stewart and his cronies for barring me from public meetings. I couldn’t believe he could or would pull such a stunt at a Christmas party.

This was news! But when I returned to the newsroom to write about the incident, I was greeted with nothing but abuse from the covering JRC editors. The story never ran. Just like with many of Stewart’s appointees at City Hall, everybody was afraid of Stewart, who has apparently now acquired his own personal public relations bureau at the Herald.

So much for the salvation of New Britain’s watchdog.

With the city taking over the Herald building anyway — it’s slated for demolition to make way for economic development — perhaps Schroeder can move the newspaper operation to City Hall.

Rick Guinness is a former New Britain Herald and Journal Inquirer reporter.


Copyright © 2009 - Journal Inquirer

March 23, 2009 at 8:48 PM
Anonymous said...

The Question?

Mr. Rick Guinness - What did Pawlak say?

That this was

a new low in

New Britain politics.

March 24, 2009 at 9:58 AM
Anonymous said...

Our military is on the chopping block...They are sworn to protect the Constitution and the Country.

Military enlisted personnel swear to obey the orders given to them by their officers, up through their chain of command, to the President. No people other than enlisted military swear any kind of oath to obey the President.

The first obligation of Military Officers and Government officials is to obey the Constitution and the duly-enacted Laws, not to obey the President. Even Executive Branch officials must not obey the President if he asks them to do anything which is unlawful. This is their Constitutional obligation, which their oath of office compels them to obey.

Obama quote July 2nd 08: "We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."

Brown shirts are coming - and The Tax Day Tea Party is Coming on April 15th Nationwide Tax Day Tea Party Rallies... Will Rick Guinness be there to cover the story in Hartford CT.

March 24, 2009 at 10:15 AM
Anonymous said...

The smear merchants have been purged from the Herald. I thought the Herald was a community newspaper not a watchdog smear rag?

Didn't Pawlak have Guiness fired when he was Mayor?

Under the "old" leadership readership was plummeting due to the "tabloid" smear emphasis.

Move on. It's a new day.

March 24, 2009 at 10:20 AM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Web Tracking
Online Florist