Greenwich Time/Stamford Advocate's latest editorial "Lawmaker right to target homelessness", praises Republican state senator John McKinney for setting "his sights on effectively ending homelessness in Connecticut."
"A rich state", it continues, "Connecticut is beset by persistent problems with people who can't find a home, can't keep a home or are in danger of losing a home. Mr. McKinney, hte Senate minority leader, is proposing what he calls a potential solution to the problem, vowing to commit significant state resources to building hundreds of affordable and permanent supportive housing units across the state"
Great. The problem is that the editorial praises Republican McKinney, while completely failing to mention that the Democratic candidate for Congress Jim Himes, a resident of Greenwich, has spent the past four years of his life working full time to solve precisely the problems of the housing shortage and housing affordability that the newspaper says needs to be addressed. Himes is a national director of Enterprise Foundation, the prominent non-profit organization whose purpopse is to fight the problems of housing throughout the United States. Jim Himes is the man responsible for the entire Northeast region for Enterprise. That organization has invested billions in public/private partnerships to develop affordable housing around the country. Himes also served as the commissioner for housing in the town of Greenwich, striving to convince the town's Republican leadership of the need to expand affordable housing.
So while Republican McKinney was contemplating his navel for the past several years when it came to the housing problem, Jim Himes was out there actually doing something about it. But where was the mention of Jim Himes in Greenwich Time/Stamford Advocate's paean to one of its darling Republicans? Not a word in the editorial even acknowledged Himes' contributions or efforts. Let's be clear: this wasn't an editorial in The Day of New London or equally far-off Hartford Courant. No, this editorial was penned by an employee in Himes' hometown right smack in the fourth congressional district. In other words, the author of that editorial knew full well all about Jim Himes' efforts and accomplishments. The paper just didn't possess the intellectual honesty to tell its readers the truth. No, far better to paint a rosy picture of a Republican politician courageously leading the way for Greenwich Time's largely Republican leadership. Forget honesty; it's the ideological spin that counts for that crew.
Of course, there's far more with which to take issue in that twisted editorial. For example, the editorial states, "Poor people, though, don't vote, at least not in large numbers; it's mostly safe to ignore their issues come campaign season."
You really wonder where these journalists have been and what they were doing to be so oblivious about the real world. Politicians "ignore their issues"? Not John Edwards, who has been campaigning on a platform of closing the gap betwen the "Two Americas". Robert F. Kennedy cetainly didn't ignore the plight of the poor. President Johnson, who launched the "Great Society" programs to eliminate poverty in America, certainly didn't ignore the plight of the poor. And the Democratic Party as a whole has certainly not ignored the downtrodden over the past eight decades. Could it really be that the editorial's author was unaware of FDR's accomplishments in sharply cutting poverty among senior citizens with his Social Security program? Could it be that he was unaware of the efforts to improve housing for the poor under Johnson? Could he have been oblivious as to the damage done by the Republican Party recently with its passage of the bankruptcy bill in the last congress that made it more difficult for average Americans, who were being financially wiped out by overwhelming medical bills, to get out from under those crushing debts? Suppose not. No, Greenwich Time/Stamford Advocate prove again the old adage that "ignorance is bliss".
But it ain't gonna work. Every time GT/Advocate twist the truth and leave out key facts, they diminish their own fast fading reputations as journalists. Jim Himes is the guy who's been working is butt off to solve the housing problem. Nice to see that McKinney has finally realized that there is a problem. But pretending as if he's the champion here is just plain dishonest. Got that, Greenwich Time? |
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