Cydney McFarland’s front-page article in the Sunday paper (Oct. 8) is heavily biased toward hospital commission candidate Bruce McComas.
Ms. McFarland devoted 10 paragraphs to the former mill manager, four on the front page, and seven paragraphs to Cheri Van Hoover, none on the front page.
McComas received nearly twice the text as Van Hoover did (320 words vs. 181).
Van Hoover has deep experience in public health policy management, and was recently honored as a guest lecturer at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., on that very topic.
She taught classes for more than a decade on that very topic.
Bruce has no such experience.
He cites his business experience, which includes managing our paper mill as it went bankrupt.
We don’t need that kind of experience on the hospital commission.
He has denied involvement but two reports offset that.
(PT Leader, 5/30/08:): “McComas had overall responsibility for the performance and profitability …” and (Seattle Times, 8/15/07:) “The Canadian units weren’t part of the bankruptcy case.”
Google these quotes for details.
McComas has already been accused twice of campaigning violations involving the use of public staff, facilities and agencies (i.e., Jefferson Healthcare Hospital) in his campaign, according to a Sept. 24 article in the PDN.
The Peninsula Daily News is not a “public facility” in the sense that our hospital is, but it should enjoy a position of public trust as an objective source of news.
Reporting like this violates that trust.
Bob Longmire,
Port Townsend