Evidently, the editor at The World has too much time on his hands, (that happens when readers stop reading your paper), because he is now working in the straw man fabrication business. Owing to the reduced size of the paper and the rise in syndicated content there is plenty of speculation the paper is struggling. If so, perhaps the paper lives by the old axiom “controversy sells” and believes that accusing Main of hiring a new assessor by stealth will stir up some new readers, but in this case, no one is buying.
One troublesome aspect of Colby’s tenure was the relatively un-public nature of his ascent to office. The previous assessor, Bob Main, hired Colby as an appraiser. Main ran for commissioner in 2008, leaving the assessor’s job vacant. Colby, running unopposed, coasted into office with virtually no public or media scrutiny.
That circumstance was by no means Main’s fault. But Main, now chairman of the commissioners, is leading a silent selection process almost equally devoid of public participation.
Forgetting for a minute that, according to Main, Colby was subjected to two background checks before he was hired as an appraiser, why is it The World never subjected candidate Colby to any ‘media scrutiny’? Whose responsibility was that?
Because the assessor job is nonpartisan and technically specialized, whoever is appointed has a strong chance of running unopposed in the next election. The initial appointment process may be voters’ best opportunity to learn about their new assessor.
Now that is just plain stupid. It took voters exactly two years to get to know Colby AND recall him. The new appointee may well run unopposed but the public will have two full years before the next election to decide whether they damn well want to elect this person to another four.
The secrecy of this process inspires an unavoidable question: What don’t the county commissioners want voters to know?
No, Clark, it doesn’t inspire any such question. However, if you really want an explanation of the procedures used for choosing the new assessor why not ask the board directly or, better yet, ask your own reporter, Gail Elber, she has attended at least one hiring meeting.
I get a copy to cover the bottom of parrots cage. It is good for that.
let’s not forget the damage done by bad journalism. the coos bay paper assumes its readers are ignorant and fails to fully inform them so they can make wise decisions. this is a disaster for any area especially one in such stiff economic trouble
People will have to demand a good paper before they will get one. Lee Enterprises will do the minimum to get by so it is up to the readers to raise the bar
Mr. Commissioner Jackson will continue to be a target also. I did not know Mr. Colby as county assessor. Mr. Colby the human is my friend. He was screwed by the excuse for a newspaper. Sadly, in Oregon, it is almost impossible to sue the paper – as Stufflebean found when he considered doing so – after also finding that you should never argue with a person who buys ink by the barrel. The time to give the people of Coos County a real newspaper is long overdue. Even the dead fish do not want to be wrapped in that paper. Folks considering relocating a business to our area read the local papers. There is not much positive coming from this papers editorials. A 10,200 daily circulation (the corporate number) (not 11,000 the editor’s number) in a marketplace of more than 60,000 potential residence and business customers says something. More and more folks are subscribing to the Eugene Register Guard (at almost four times the delivery price of the World) for their written news. With the Register Guard you get todays world wide news today not Fridays news on Tuesday. The current publisher has done none of what he promised on arrival. The man from Sequim – paper number two – seems to believe what he wrote in the spring of 2010. Ms. Elber – mentioned above, Rachel Finney, other reporters, and the sports editor, make the paper worth a daily glance – at most. Most of the paper is retread AP stories that can be read earlier in the day elsewhere. Isn’t it interesting that the same four ads for key positions at the paper keep running. No applicants?