Article & Response

If you live in the Fond du Lac area, you're already familiar with the Distorter's (Fond du Lac Reporter) talent for....well.... distorting. Facts usually have nothing to do with what they print. One example is the recent heated "battle" for the reduction of the FdL County Board. A recent article states as "fact" the FdL GOP is behind the petition drive: FdL County Board size: Concerns about politics voiced

"They used the Republican party machinery to get those signatures on the ballot," Farrell said. "It's the petition group that is trying to politicize and make the County Board partisan." (...) Some believe Republicans are motivated to try to cut the County Board because many Democrats could lose their seats, Farrell said.

Hmmmmm.... I was at that meeting, this account is not factual. I got an email from the County Chair, with her response to this article, which was printed this morning: Guest editorial: GOP 'sets record straight' on County Board debate

We have heard the accusations, and felt they were so absurd that we largely ignored them -— until Thursday. That morning, The Reporter felt the need to state as fact, on the front page of its paper: "the Fond du Lac County Republican Party helped circulate petitions for the Nov. 7 referendum "… " In "researching" this story, The Reporter did not even bother to call any of our party leadership or stop by our office to see if this was really the case. Instead, The Reporter took the word of two people that never spoke to any of the leadership in our party, either. Let's set the record straight: In late spring, Supervisor Sam Meyer e-mailed to ask if he could give a legislative report and also discuss the County Board reduction debate. Since we have an open invitation to all legislators to speak at our membership meetings, I welcomed him to speak. However, I cautioned that not all of our members are in favor of reduction and that we, as a party, had decided not to endorse one way or the other.

A simple phone call, or a short drive from the Reporter's offices, could have set the record straight. However, as with the majority of the MSM, that would actually involve them DOING THEIR JOB! Heaven forbid they should have have been REAL reporters, and given "just the facts ma'am". Anyone familiar with Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers knows how slanted their "reporting" usually comes across, and reality usually has little to do with how they report stories.