I’m doing something I’ve not done since my husband Peter and I launched RiverheadLOCAL in 2010: I’m disclosing who I’m voting for and why I’m going to vote that way.
Before I do that, I’d like to explain why I’m making this disclosure. Up until now, I’ve adhered to the belief that who I vote for is really none of your business, dear reader. No offense. As it is, whenever I publish an opinion column criticizing something a politician does, there’s a hue and cry from that politician and his or her rabid supporters that I’m biased. And I get attacked.
No matter how I personally feel about a politician or a candidate, I try really hard not to let it show and I hold myself to the highest standard when it comes to my news reporting. I seek truth and report it. I do everything possible not to let my opinion seep into my reporting, including having other reporters and editors — people who aren’t even from here, have never even been here and don’t know the cast of characters— review my reporting on controversial topics.
This time of year, when partisan zealotry is whipped to a frenzy, is brutal for local news editors. You’ve got people screaming at you and calling you names in public forums. I’ve even got people hollering at my husband. (Note to Mason: If you have a problem with something I’ve reported, talk to me about it, not Peter. As he and I have both told you in the past, he has no control over my work. Man up and call me directly.)
So I’ve always figured that, as far as endorsements are concerned, I wouldn’t go there. It just opens me up to more criticism about — gasp — having an opinion. Who cares how I vote, anyway? And I’m going to cast one of about 8,000 ballots next week. You vote your conscience and I’ll vote mine.
But this year is different. I’ve never seen so many people so agonized and so at a loss of what to do. For the past few weeks, everywhere I go, someone has expressed their confusion about what to do in this election. Someone asks my opinion.
The most common refrain I’ve heard, at least when it comes to the supervisor’s race: “I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to vote for any of them.”
There’s a lot at stake in next week’s balloting. Not just because there are big decisions on the horizon, and not just because whatever progress we’ve made could well be undone with the election of the wrong people. And not just because one candidate is having a ton of money spent to attack the incumbent by a police union Super PAC that really has no business in our town. But because of the issue that the incumbent supervisor keeps bringing up: character and integrity.
Bottom line: I’m not convinced that either challenger has demonstrated the ability to do the supervisor’s job. Nor, frankly, have they earned my trust. The incumbent Sean Walter is getting my vote on Tuesday. I explain this decision in the following sections about the three individual candidates.
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