{"id":3143,"date":"2016-04-04T11:30:41","date_gmt":"2016-04-04T18:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1hope.org\/hopeblog\/?p=3143"},"modified":"2016-04-28T11:51:14","modified_gmt":"2016-04-28T18:51:14","slug":"powerful-media-silence-on-hopes-public-records-monterey-downs-water-promise-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1hope.org\/hopeblog\/powerful-media-silence-on-hopes-public-records-monterey-downs-water-promise-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Powerful Media Silence on HOPE’s Public-Records Monterey-Downs Water-Promise Lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Censorhip<\/a>

Censorhip is the Worst<\/p><\/div>\n

HOPE filed a simple but powerful Public Records Act Lawsuit on Monday to expose documents of a secret Water deal between Monterey Downs’ Horse gambling racetrack, the Water company – Cal-Am and Monterey County<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n

Afterwards, we dutifully sent out Press Releases to most of the local media – who then studiously and completely ignored the story<\/strong> !<\/p>\n

Is our lawsuit a non-story — or is something less honorable going on here ?<\/p>\n

Is our local media practicing Self-Censorship<\/a><\/strong> ?<\/p>\n

Well, \u00a0the nation-wide<\/em> legal news reporters “Courthouse News Service<\/a><\/strong>” found HOPE’s lawsuit newsworthy<\/strong> and wrote a detailed story (on their front page) you can read here : “Secret Water Deal Alleged in Monterey County<\/strong><\/a>” !<\/p>\n

So our lawsuit is not merely news,<\/strong><\/p>\n

it is news of national interest !<\/strong><\/p>\n

But not according to our Monterey Peninsula newspapers !What’s with our local media’s screamful-of-silence response<\/strong> ?<\/p>\n

1. We know Paul (leading local environmental protection hater) Miller<\/strong> and his “Pacific Grove-Pine Cone”<\/strong><\/em> (the newspaper hasn’t been in Carmel for years) \u00a0supports every development and water overuse<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0“Paul Miller\u2019s Pine Cone not only censors letters to the editor <\/a><\/strong>(and the only commentaries he allows are his own) \u2013 Miller actively campaigns FOR censorship of people he can\u2019t adequately debate<\/a>.”<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Miller also worships the quicksand I walk on<\/a> (as well as how he loathes anyone else doing public records requests — or maybe its just others getting public credit for them).<\/p>\n

So Miller won’t write about it — with pleasure (or bitterness).<\/p>\n

So that’s one paper down.<\/p>\n

2. How about Weak Coastly<\/strong>, multi-milllionaire Bradley Zeve’s snarky<\/strong> formerly “alternative” paper that used to cover important stories the daily missed ?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0Trouble is, it now acts politically as business biased as the Herald – like supporting Pacific Grove’<\/strong>s Measure X – a giant Hotel development the size of three football fields ?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Zeve’s reporter actually called us back within 15 minutes of us sending the Press Release out.<\/p>\n

The reporter’s first word is not “hello” — its “WOW.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

He asks for and we send him a copy of the lawsuit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This is where it gets more interesting.<\/p>\n

A bit later he emails back with a question irrelevant to the story<\/strong> — “How many members does HOPE have?” – as though HOPE is an imaginary organization.<\/p>\n

Well, for more than a decade (since 1998) HOPE has played a leading role in protecting our Peninsula’s environment and public participation in government decisions. <\/strong><\/p>\n

(But you wouldn’t know that from reading Weak Coastly, because they refused to allow mention HOPE’s name for its first 8 years; until 2006.)<\/strong><\/p>\n

HOPE is known (with tongue well-in cheek) as the group that stopped both Dirty Harry<\/a> and<\/i> the Terminator<\/a><\/strong> for leading real, and huge victories for our Peninsula’s Environment.<\/strong> And\u00a0 (unlike the Sierra Club<\/a>) HOPE is a genuine IRS certified 501(c)3 Non-Profit<\/a><\/strong> where your donations are tax-deductible<\/a><\/strong> !<\/p>\n

Since a single person can file a Public Records lawsuit, the number of our members is wholly irrelevant.<\/strong> But just to play along with this – do we have any expertise or credibility related to the issue ?<\/p>\n

HOPE has won lawsuits that no one else would touch.\u00a0<\/strong> In addition, back when it had courage, Weak Coastly themselves once called our executive director, me, a “hyperactivist<\/strong>” for \u00a0attending and participating in hundreds of government meetings a year. In the same vein, Water District Director Alvin Edwards referred to me as “the eighth member of the Water Board<\/strong>.” So its not as if HOPE is a bumbling novice on Monterey Peninsula water issues or government.<\/p>\n

Better yet, our attorney, Susan Goldbeck, is nationally respected as a litigator, served admirably as a Pacific Grove Councilwoman<\/strong> and wouldn’t waste her valuable time with a flimsy lawsuit.<\/p>\n

So because the question is irrelevant, we sent back an appropriately vague answer, wondering if Weak Coastly asks every news source how many members they have ?<\/strong> Or were they just setting us up for an excuse so they didn’t have to report it ?<\/p>\n

Well, 3 days later the new Weakly comes out on Thursday with – nothing. Not a peep. “Wow” — but Silence.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two down.<\/p>\n

Update April 4 Monday<\/strong>: Weak Coastly finally mentions the story, living up to their snarky standards by calling it a “conspiracy theory.” On a positive note, they get the first clear denials from County Counsel and Cal-AM. <\/strong>\u00a0Still no word from Potter or Monterey Downs.<\/p>\n

So is this true, or is the Washington DC maxim operating “Never believe anything until its been officially denied.” Time should tell.<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Note: We are now at step two of Ghandi’s list: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, <\/strong> and then you win<\/strong><\/a>.<\/a>” I added – “and finally they take credit for your work.”)<\/strong><\/p>\n

3. How about our so-called “newspaper of record<\/strong>” the daily Herald <\/strong>?<\/p>\n

\"Supervisor<\/a>

Supervisor Potter Caught ?<\/p><\/div>\n

Not a word. The Herald doesn’t even return a call asking if they got our Press Release.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That’s all three. (1)<\/p>\n

So Potter and Monterey Downs win silence by censorship . . .<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the moment . . .<\/p>\n

Question: Why do you suppose, that the day before we filed, Potter made efforts to not stop us from filing the suit?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you think Potter gave up trying to kill this story after that ?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Or do you wonder if Potter used a stick or a carrot on our local news media ?<\/p>\n

Could there be other stories the Potter had killed ? ? ?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stay tuned for when we depose Potter and his cronies.<\/p>\n

This is bound to get even more interesting rapidly.<\/p>\n

But weirdly, you can’t read a word about it in the local press<\/span>. (Which is why HOPE started this Blog)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Makes me wonder what other stories are self-censored by our local media<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Inquiring minds want to know ;-)<\/strong><\/p>\n

# # #<\/p>\n

Notes:<\/p>\n

(1)\u00a0 The Cedar Street Times doesn’t count — because its just a vanity paper that barely pretends to commit journalism<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HOPE filed a simple but powerful Public Records Act Lawsuit on Monday to expose documents of a secret Water deal between Monterey Downs’ Horse gambling racetrack, the Water company – Cal-Am and Monterey County. Afterwards, we dutifully sent out Press … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[19,43,33,4,5],"tags":[297,303,301,298,295,304,302],"class_list":["post-3143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bad-acts","category-censorship","category-education","category-media-misdeeds","category-water","tag-bradley-zeve","tag-herald","tag-pacific-grove-pine-cone","tag-paul-miller","tag-press-releases","tag-self-censorship","tag-weak-coastly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1hope.org\/hopeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3143"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1hope.org\/hopeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1hope.org\/hopeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1hope.org\/hopeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1hope.org\/hopeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3143"}],"version-history":[{"count":68,"href":"https:\/\/1hope.org\/hopeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3248,"href":"https:\/\/1hope.org\/hopeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3143\/revisions\/3248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1hope.org\/hopeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1hope.org\/hopeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1hope.org\/hopeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}