I’ve written before about my frustration with the local press for what seemed to me to be an overly cozy relationship with the powers-that-be. One might say the Bainbridge Review has sometimes taken its role as “newspaper of record” to mean “mouthpiece for the Kordonowy administration.”
No more. Since Dennis Anstine took over the editorial reins of the Review, City Hall coverage has improved and Mr. Anstine’s opinion pieces have been increasingly critical of financial and managerial decisions that the Review might have rubber stamped only a few months ago. A newspaper needn’t be a government adversary, but it should hold its community institutions accountable. “Thrilled” isn’t too strong a word for my reaction to this sign that our local newspaper is stepping up to its crucial watchdog role.
Yesterday, the Review threw its weight behind citizen activists and the City Council minority (Kim Brackett, Debbie Vancil and Bill Knobloch) who have been calling out errors, misjudgments and inadequate information about City finances so blatant and long-standing that the average citizen can only wonder how well-intentioned and intelligent people have supported it this long.
“The downward [revenue] trend was aggressively noted during the last six months of the year by at least three members of the council and a dozen or so activists who consistenly abraded the administration during the year for not acknowledging the obvious,” Anstine wrote. (more…)
Bainbridge Notebook 