I have been disappointed and disheartened during the year’s town election campaign by the disrespect and lack of common courtesy the backers of one candidate, Commissioner Jim Thompson, made in public spaces such as Facebook and the comments sections of The Wake Forest Gazette. Many comments that I thought were close to libelous I approved to let readers know about the state of the campaign.
I heard several times that state Representative Chris Malone was backing Thompson and urged him to run. I do not know that it is true; I suspect strongly that it is because Malone has been trying to build a power base in this area, probably with a view of running for another office soon.
After watching town elections for 47 years, I can say I’ve never heard and seen such disrespect and lack of common courtesy. I am happy to say that others saw and heard what I did – and turned out in large numbers yesterday to rebuke such behavior and elect Vivian Jones to her fifth term. That turnout and her election sweep of all nine town precincts restored my faith in the good sense and civility of the people of this town.
11 Responses
The vitriol, grammatical errors, and anger included in ALL of these posts are certainly consistent with our President’s tweets and many of the responses to His tweets. Congratulations (I say cynically) to those of you who are aspiring to that. And, to those of you who are not, shame on you.
We are blessed in Wake Forest to have many folks, older and younger, old timers and recent residents, who have a passion for and commitment to our community. Let’s not devolve to where we find ourselves trying to mimic our state/federal “representatives.” (“Representatives” in quotes because I think most of them, whether “D”s or “R”s, have no concern about representing the interests of anyone other than themselves.)
Right?
I fail to understand what Mr. Thompson had said or done in his campaign that was negative or false. Pointing out policy differences between himself and the Mayor is not negative. I also find it hard to believe that this was the nastiest campaign in the past four decades. I have lived here 11 years and found this Mayors race to be more competitive that it. I would also like to point out that Rep. Malone’s endorsement of Mr. Thompson is no different than yours of Mayor Jones. Putting a sign in his yard just as you had done for the Mayor. I am also going to point out that Mr. Malone already has a power base in Wake Forest. In large part because if someone needs to navigate the maze of State Government Mr. Malone is there with a helping hand: as is Mr. Thompson at the local level.
I congratulate Mayor Jones on her victory and wish nothing but success for her and Wake Forest for the next 4 years.
I also was saddened by the negativity and lies in this election. I believe it allowed the outcome we had. The town deserved better.
Does anyone review your opinion pieces before you post them? This is like reading CNN, NBC or FOX NEWS. You could have said the same opinion piece about how you dislike the negative events in the election process overall and been fair that this happens to everyone. You could have written in this manner and still gotten your point across without personal attacks. Yes this is an opinion article, but readers do not care about your personal opinions about another individual, no matter who they are. Stick to writing opinion articles that speak broadly about our great town. Thank you.
I get the distinction between News and Opinion, but using your own news site as a platform to take a cheap shot at an individual (and his supporters) like this is inexcusable, and the implication that there’s a logical link between a candidate’s viability and the obnoxious behavior of a few vocal supporters is patently absurd.
This may not have been unethical, but it was entirely classless.
Come on, journalism is always slanted no matter who writes the articles. Intelligent people understand this and are always questioning articles with lack of information, or conveniently forgotten facts. This article is a prime example which states “I heard”. If you can not prove it, be responsible and don’t print it, or you are only add fuel to the fire.
Shame on anyone that brings an innocent child into politics. No matter who the politician is, their children are off limits.
Dear JPB, I see you are confused about the difference between news articles and opinions. Please note that I carefully labeled the writing you refer to as opinion. It is an editorial. The news articles such as the lead story this week about the election results is filled with verifiable facts and all the words are bland and without bias. There are very few adjectives. That is a news article.
Carol
Opinions perpetuate false “facts’, “I heard” whether “opinion” or “article” does not make one true, just pure gossip, but most can not delineate the difference.
“I heard (insert drug/behavior) won’t kill you” would be just as irresponsible to write as an “opinion” as trying to write an article. Be a good role model and write only the truth without gossip…I know, it’s hard of sensational journalism.
Supporters of a candidate are a reflection of the candidate. It affected my vote.
Carol,
First, let me be clear that yes, Chris Malone and several other elected officials were supporting my election efforts. That includes two of the sitting WF commissioners, a former WF commissioner and several WF candidates. As for my backers making potentially libellous comments. You are truly showing your favoritism in comments like that. It goes the other way, too. I actually had to unfriend and block comments on Facebook from people like Nathan “Rusty” Forest because they were just terrible and filled with lies. And then there were folks like former WF commissioner candidate Chad Casle He put out on Facebook and NextDoor lies about my employeer, what I do for a living, and things about my children. It.was very libellous. So, be happy that your candidate won, but if negative comments by supporters were what lead to turnout and a victory, thebrace would be tied. Shame on you for printing such nonsense. This is a great example of irresponsible journalism
Amen.