Our window to have published letters to the editor closed yesterday. We stop accepting letters a week in advance of any election to allow voters a chance to consider and reflect without being bombarded with campaign-specific messaging, which is, by its very nature, one sided. We also do not want one campaign or the other to gain the last word, without allowing some time for rebuttal.

Our policy states the following: “Letters endorsing or in opposition to political candidates or election ballot issues will be published up until one week before the applicable election. Authors are limited to one letter per week. Letters of endorsement may not be written by the candidate being endorsed, nor may candidates write letters of endorsement or in opposition to their election opponents.” Our full policy is here: https://fortatkinsononline.com/opinion/.

Yesterday, as the deadline loomed, we received a letter that made accusations against a Democratic candidate, Brienne Brown, who is running against a Republican candidate, Scott Johnson, for an open seat in the 43rd district of the Wisconsin State Assembly. The letter, submitted by a private citizen, offered several unsubstantiated claims against Brown. When we asked for the “open records requests” upon which the letter-writer said their claims were based, we were contacted by and met in person with a paid staff member of the Republican party who is working, Scott Johnson verified by phone, and the staffer agreed, with the Johnson campaign.

The letter-writer, too, sent information, describing the items as “open records requests.” Some of the information was a rewrite of the staffer’s gathered information, and not original documents with the appropriate letterhead and other insignias. Those presumably are on a thumb drive provided by the staffer during our impromptu meeting in Whitewater. 

The staffer was aware, she indicated, of WhitewaterWise’s policy against candidates writing letters in opposition to their opponents. It’s true, the letter was sent by somebody else.

Tricky.

Upon receiving the information, WhitewaterWise contacted Brown to see if she wanted to address the accusations. We shared with her the original letter and our request to the letter-writer for substantiating documents.

Brown declined our request, writing by text that she believed “there are too many poorly researched and gossipy things here.”

Campaigns are often heated affairs. That has been most true during this election. Campaigns tend to cherry pick information that benefits their cause, and sometimes, they move forward with misinterpretation, exaggeration and innuendo.

With help from such sites as Facebook, and blogs run by individuals who do not subscribe to journalistic standards, these things blossom, and even grow legs.

WhitewaterWise’s letters space is not an appropriate place to produce a thinly vailed attack ad. It’s exactly what our policy was written to guard against.

Thanks for the test.

Silly season is almost over, folks. We hope we can all recover from this season and work together once again as a full and engaged society.

To our readers, as consumers of information, please let us reiterate: Buyer beware; all information is worth scrutiny; look for sourcing, and consider for yourself what you are reading. 

As always,

Thanks for reading.

Kim McDarison