To the editor:

There is a dreadful pathology, a pandemic, I think, infesting news coverage of governments as great as Congress and the White House and as small as local cities and villages across America. That pandemic is a biased, brutal savaging of people who step up to the responsibility of public service. Instead of enjoying respectful and fair-minded assessment, too often they find themselves victims of a public rush to judgment, fueled by zealous journalists opting for hot and juicy sensationalism over cool, dispassionate reporting.

Why does this happen? Typically it’s because sensationalistic dirt sells, when fact-based clean reporting doesn’t. Can it happen in Langley? Disappointingly, it already has.

The Record’s recent articles about Langley’s mayor cause me to experience that pandemic in our otherwise healthy little town. Never during my 10-year subscription to the local newspaper have I read articles as biased and one-sided as those recently written by editor Brian Kelly about Paul Samuelson. I’m not just disappointed in the Record, I’m disgusted by its blatant and transparent rush to judgment.

Let’s take a look at the first sentence in Kelly’s Aug. 11 article. It begins, “Langley Mayor Paul Samuelson tried to clean house in the city’s finance department after employees there raised concerns about his vacation pay, according to records released Friday by the city.”

According to city council members I talked to, Mayor Samuelson had begun a systematic review and reform of departments, including the finance department, long before the clerk/treasurer questioned his compensation. The inference that the mayor’s clean-up campaign was driven by retaliatory motives are false. In fact, the mayor was commendably acting for the good of Langley residents, and records show that he has saved Langley taxpayers substantial amounts of money.

That’s just for starters. The Record’s failure to identify attorney costs driven by a private citizen’s 38-point call for FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) materials is just another example of Kelly’s failure at fact-based reporting. These costs are significant, and the records are being requested by someone not even a resident of Langley. There are many other examples where Kelly has used innuendo, the distortion of truth and the outright omission of important information. Is this not an attempt to manipulate public opinion?

I find Mayor Samuelson and council members to be some of the most decent, earnest, hard-working and capable public servants any community could ever hope to enjoy. Let’s face it, some communities are run by imbeciles. Here we have a mayor who’s already distinguished himself as a long-term school board member, a founding board member of our successful performing arts center, a reputable local businessman and a fair-minded, intelligent and, according to one high-ranking city hall department head I spoke to, someone who brings exceptional experience and insight to the office of mayor. Langley’s city council members all exemplify similar distinguishing attributes.

With this caliber of public servants, Langley is so very fortunate. Why would we tear them down?

Pashaw on the South Whidbey Record. You can do so much better.

Sharen Heath

Langley