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| COLAB: The Colition of Labor Agriculture and Labor |
| Spike Does the Laundry! May 2, 2002 - Have you ever noticed that the South County media outlets generally don't air the dirty laundry of the environmental community? But when something happens in the business community that is an embarrassment to conservatives, well then, it is front page news? Consider for example the two recent stories about Reed Slatkin and Venoco. Reed supposedly ripped off quite a few investors of a whole lot of money and you have read all about it, with some newspapers even doing a series of articles on the crime. Or consider the more recent story of an inside power struggle between some of the top brass at Venoco. Once again, front-page, above the fold stories. Yet the environmental community in Santa Barbara is in crisis and you would be hard pressed to find even a mention of it anywhere. It was big news a few months ago when a supposedly new organization, I fondly refer to as SB-SCAM, came on the scene. SB-SCAM was presented as something new, but all the faces in the picture were definitely old and their rhetoric was nothing new at all. No reporter bothered to inform the public that SB-SCAM was nothing more than a cheap spin-off from two organizations in turmoil, the Environmental Defense Center and the Citizen's Planning Association. The EDC and the CPA have been around for a long time and one would think that they will always be around, but maybe not. Did you ever read a story explaining why former chief counsel Marc Chytilo left the EDC? Or why former Executive Director Tim Allison left the CPA? Whereas, the struggles of the EDC have not been made public to the residents of the South County, we finally learned through a couple of blurbs that there has been a power struggle among board members for control of the CPA. But why no expose on the CPA ala Venoco? By contrast, the EDC did make the news this past weekend, on the front page no less, of the San Luis Obispo Tribune. We have thus been informed by reporter David Sneed that the EDC Executive Director Armando Nieto is leaving because of "financial pressures". And another blast from the past, Mindy Lorenz has also quit. Sneed also adds that 6 of 11 directors left the board in January. Here it is May, and you haven't read a word about any of this have you? The fact is, environmental organizations and causes are only painted in a positive light by the South County media. News of scandals, power struggles, corruption and the like are not considered newsworthy stories when it involves the liberal elite of this community. The environmental movement is politically correct and the media in this town plans on keeping it in the best light possible. That is one of the reasons this column was created. It is a shame that COLAB has to pay for "advertising space" in order to bring you a perspective on the news that you will not find elsewhere in this community. This column is hated by a whole lot of people because they know they risk exposure as a result of its existence. Have you ever considered that there is no media outlet for conservatives in the local community to express their opinions and values except for those that can afford to pay to do so? Why, what harm would it be to the community for conservatives to have a regular opportunity to engage the far-left of this town in a meaningful debate? |
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