Does Daily News deserve public’s trust, or that of special interest? | Eastern North Carolina Now

    It's settled. The Washington Daily News editorial team is better equipped for politics than a democratic election.

    One month and 17 days after three incumbent commissioners overwhelmingly defeated three contenders for their seats on the Beaufort County board, and one incumbent commissioner gave an N.C. Senator a run for his money, the Daily News published an article with the questioning title "Has board lost public's trust," regarding the board's role in determining the future of the financially unstable Beaufort Regional Health Systems, in which writer Jonathan Clayborne definitively answered 'yes.'

    In the Nov. 2 general election, Democratic incumbent Ed Booth and Republican incumbents Stan Deatherage and Al Klemm amassed 3,341, 3,921, and 3,492 votes, respectively; compared to the 1,875, 1,722, and 1,145 votes for their contenders, Democrats Jerry Evans and Sonya Shamseldin and Independent Bertie Arnhols.

    Furthermore, in the N.C. Senate race for District 1, Beaufort County Commissioner Hood Richardson won 25,028 votes, spending only $19,092 in his bid to upset the reelection of Marc Basnight--who spent $1,190,963 to acquire 31,096 votes.

    "Widespread anger at the incumbents didn't appear to be reflected in the final tallies," wrote Clayborne in an article, "Electorate delivers mixed midterm bag," which ran on Dec. 31.

    One of the admitted tools for determining the extent of this "anger," as admitted in the Dec. 19 article "Has board lost public's trust," was left to "an unscientific Web poll," in which "the Daily News asked its readers to weigh in on the question of whether the commissioners will 'do the right thing when it comes to the hospital.'" According to Clayborne, the results--based on votes from 185 respondents (31 of which answered "yes"; 120, "no"; and 34 weren't sure)--were conclusive enough, despite the results of the recent election, to insinuate the existence of mistrust amongst, not merely the small faction of the public that comprises the active readership of the Daily News, but 'the public' as a whole.

    Another method of calculating the degree of 'mistrust' and "anger," according to Clayborne, are the comments left in the Daily News' "Sound Off" and "Letters to the Editor" by the very same people who are active enough in their readership to take the aforementioned poll.

    Finally, Clayborne relied on the opinions of two of the seven county commissioners, Al Klemm and Jay McRoy, who he said were "less confident that the public still trusts the commissioners to "do the right thing" for BRHS and the people it serves." In Clayborne's article, Klemm and McRoy both inferred that the commissioners have extended the bidding/negotiating process unnecessarily, which has engendered mistrust. Klemm even went so far as to say that "'the average citizen trusts the average politician ... less than a used car dealer.'"

    Klemm and McRoy, along with the Daily News, as per several of their editorials, have repeatedly expressed preference for a quick affiliation of BRHS with one of its four bidders--University Health Systems. The other five commissioners, who have consistently communicated the importance of letting the negotiating process, handled by the BRHS hospital board, run its course before the county intervenes, maintained, according to Clayborne's "trust article," that the board, as a whole, still enjoys the public's trust.

    Therefore, according to the journalistic slant of Daily News writer Jonathan Clayborne, to gauge the credibility of any certain political entity, analysts should rely more heavily on the scheming intentions of a very small political minority (who have an interest in undermining the legitimacy of the board), the comments left in "Sound Off," and Daily News surveys of 200 or less people; than the 15,496 Beaufort County residents who, on Nov. 2, cast a vote in the Beaufort County commissioner race.