FREE WHITEWATER

Press

McClatchy’s Washington Bureau establishes no-alter quote policy

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The right decision, yet in our times sadly a hard decision for many, from a major newspaper chain:

To our staff and to our readers:

As you are aware, reporters from The New York Times, Washington Post, Bloomberg and others are agreeing to give government sources the right to clear and alter quotes as a prerequisite to granting an interview.

To be clear, it is the bureau’s policy that we do not alter accurate quotes from any source. And to the fullest extent possible, we do not make deals that we will clear quotes as a condition of interviews.

With the government trying to do more of the public’s business in secret, the demands that interviews be conducted off the record is growing. While it puts us at a disadvantage, we should argue strenuously for on-the-record interviews with government officials.

When they absolutely refuse, we have only two options. First, halt the interview and attempt to find the information elsewhere. In those cases, our stories should say the official declined comment. Second, we can go ahead with the interview with the straightforward response that whatever ultimately is used will be published without change in tone, emphasis or exact language.

These days government is trying mightily to constrain access to public information. Each staffer has had no comments, demands for FOIAs that go unanswered and worse. More recently, our sources have been chilled by threats of leak investigations, and some have endured full blown leak inquiries.

As advocates of the First Amendment, we cannot be intimidated into letting the government control our work. When The New York Times agreed with Bush Administration officials to delay publication of its story of illegal wiretaps of Americans until after the 2004 election, it did the nation a great disservice. Acceding to the Obama administration’s efforts to censor our work to have it more in line with their political spin is another disservice to America.

And judging from the controversy that has ensued from the disclosure of these requests, the people don’t like this either.

If you believe there is a compelling reason for an exception to this policy, please clear it with me.

James Asher

Washington Bureau Chief

McClatchy Newspapers

Via McClatchy’s Washington Bureau establishes no-alter quote policy | McClatchy.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 7.22.12

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater brings a high of eighty-nine, and a 30% chance of rain in the morning. Winds will be 5 to 10 mph from the southwest.

On this day in 1934, federal agents shot notorious ban robber John Dillinger.

The Wisconsin Historical Society records that on this day in 1820 a Wisconsin governor who lost his life in wartime was born:

1820 – Louis P. Harvey Born

On this date Louis P. Harvey, Wisconsin Governor, was born in Connecticut. He taught school in both Kentucky and Ohio before relocating to Kenosha, where he worked as a newspaper editor. He was elected to the Wisconsin state senate in 1853, 1855, and 1857. In 1859 he was elected Secretary of State. He served as governor from January 6 to April 19, 1862. Louis P. Harvey diedon April 19, 1862, in Savannah, Tennessee while delivering medical supplies to Wisconsin soldiers at Pittsburgh Landing. Harvey slipped while stepping from one boat to another and fell into the Tennessee River and drowned. His body was recovered four days later and returned to Madison. Governor Harvey is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery. [Source: First Ladies of Wisconsin-The Governors’ Wives by Nancy G. Williams, p. 255]

Google’s daily puzzle asks about the sense of taste: “Which of the five basic tastes would you most likely experience while eating food made with soy sauce?”

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 7.21.12

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Good morning.

Whitewater’s Saturday will be a hot day, with a high of ninety-four, with a 20% chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Winds will be five to ten miles per hour, from the west.

On this day in 1861, the First Battle of Bull Run was fought in northern Virginia:

 

The Wisconsin Historical Society records that a generation earlier, in 1832, the Gen. Dodge and Black Hawk fought:

1832 – Battle of Wisconsin Heights

On July 21, 1832, soldiers led by Colonel Henry Dodge caught up with Black Hawk near the Wisconsin River, outside present-day Sauk City. Black Hawk commanded only a small group of warriors from atop a hill, while Dodge pursued with a much stronger force of militia. Although greatly outnumbered, Sauk warriors turned the attack on American troops, allowing the Indian women and children to flee across the Wisconsin River. Black Hawk and his men were forced to retreat to the river, but night was falling so Dodge decided to continue the battle in the morning. But when the American troops went after the Sauk Indians the next day, the Sauk had crossed the river and disappeared. One American was killed and eight wounded while at least 50 Indians were killed and another 80 wounded. You can read accounts of this battle by both Black Hawk and Henry Dodge at our site for teachers and students. [Source: Along the Black Hawk Trial by William F. Stark, p. 124-128]

Google’s daily puzzle ask about treatments in the ancient world: “The last ruler in the Ptolemaic dynasty tried to treat the baldness of which one of her famous boyfriends?”

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 7.20.12

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Good morning.

Whitewater’s Friday will be sunny with a high of eighty-seven.

On this day in 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon.

The Wisconsin Historical Society recalls that on this day in 1976,

Hank Aaron Hits Record Home Run

On this date Hank Aaron hit his 755th and last home run at Milwaukee County Stadium against the California Angels. [Source: Milwaukee Brewers]

Google’s daily question asks about particular clouds: “You’re gazing at the sunset and notice electric-blue clouds. Are they closer to the Earth’s surface or to space?”

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 7.19.12

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Good morning.

Whitewater’s Thursday will be a mostly cloudy day, with a high of eighty-eight.

The city’s Community Development Authority meets today at 4:30 PM.

On this day in 1940, facing great odds, Churchill launched his “V for Victory” campaign in Europe.

Also on this day, in 1799, French soldiers in Egypt discovered the Rosetta Stone.

Here’s a video first — a clip of a snow leopard and her cubs in their den, from Mongolia —

Google’s daily puzzle combines war and peace: “A Revolutionary War colonel, famous for resisting a siege at Fort Stanwix, had a grandson who became a literary legend. What’s the grandson’s name?” more >>

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 7.18.12

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Good morning.

Midweek in Whitewater will bring a partly sunny day, with a high of ninety-one, and an east wind at five to ten miles per hour.

On this day in 1940, Democrats nominated Franklin Roosevelt for a third term:

Google daily puzzle tests one’s knowledge of the Ancients today: “An ancient Greek philosopher thought that not all madness was bad. In a famous play, he named four types that he considered gifts from the gods. What were they?”

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City, Development, Green Energy Holdings, Local Government, Open Government

An Open Letter to the Interim City Manager on a Proposal between Whitewater and Green Energy Holdings

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Good afternoon.

Here’s a post to follow previous ones on this website, and a story today in the Janesville Gazette, about a proposal between the City of Whitewater and Green Energy Holdings for a waste digester.

The project has been touted as a large one, but large claims for municipal projects require substantial justification.

In today’s newspaper story, Whitewater’s Interim City Manager, Cameron Clapper, is quoted, in response to questions about the project, as saying that “I know of no such problems…It is my understanding that we have a memorandum of understanding with Green Energy and all conditions either have been met or are expected to be met.”

Although these remarks are reassuring, there must be a careful, substantial basis for that confidence. We would surely agree that this is no private endeavor, but one to which our city of many thousands is a party.

Open government is good government.

If the City of Whitewater has information to corroborate the soundness of this proposal, then why not post that information on the city’s website? The city has a fine website – why not create a page with thorough information about the project for all Whitewater’s residents?

To help in that regard, for convenience, I’ve collected in this one message links to two of my three, prior posts on the deal, with reasonable, simple questions about the project. (The third of those prior posts was about a Daily Union story, and addressed the press rather than local government.) Other questions may arise, but these seem a good starting point.

The questions appear as a postscript to this note. (The original posts have follow up, explanatory questions below each main one.) The Interim City Manager owes me no personal response to this note; I neither expect nor want one.

Our community, though, does deserve much more information than it has received about this project. In that spirit, I’ve sent this post via email to Mr. Clapper’s attention.

Yours,

JOHN ADAMS

www.freewhitewater.com

P.S. Questions about the GEH Proposal

(For a comprehensive list of all posts about this proposal, FREE WHITEWATER now has a designated category.)

From Preliminary & General Questions about a Proposal with Green Energy Holdings —

1. What’s the actual name and business form of Green Energy Holdings?

2. Green Energy Holdings, Inc. was registered as a Wisconsin corporation on 4.3.12. Why so recently? How – under what form — was it doing business previously?

3. If GEH registered as a Wisconsin corporation in April, with whom was the city negotiating previously?

4. How did the city first learn of this proposal?

5. Which employees from city staff worked with GEH – under whatever business form — during the nine months’ time that Brunner mentioned?

6. If city employees have worked for a long time, why is there so little information available?

7. Why has there been no document of any kind – other than the proposed development agreement – shared with the public about this proposal!

8. How many digester sites does GEH own and operate now?

9. In the sites that GEH operates now, what value have the GEH plants contributed to the community?

10. Where is GEH’s headquarters now? [7.17.12: is this a WI or an out of state company? Is there a licensing deal between an out-of-state and a Wisconsin company?]

11. Why does GEH’s corporate filing with Wisconsin use the same post office box address as the one listed for Northern Concrete Construction?

12. How has GEH calculated its reported claims of economic or property value added to a community?

13. How did GEH arrive at a target figure for incremental property value claimed for a Whitewater digester?

14. Before submitting a draft proposal to the Common Council, did Whitewater’s city manager or others on his staff undertake or request an independent analysis of claimed incremental value for a digester?

15. Other than Whitewater, in what other communities does GEH have present plans to build?

16. One of those other, proposed communities is Maribel, Wisconsin. What is the status of the project in that community?

17. Before submitting a draft proposal to the Common Council, did Whitewater’s city manager or others on his staff undertake or request an independent analysis of the environmental impact of the project?

What impact will the processing of food waste in the facility have on the surrounding land, air, and water?

18. Before submitting a draft proposal to the Common Council, did Whitewater’s city manager or others on his staff receive visit other communities, and interview residents in those cities, about existing GEH projects?

19. How much public money will be required for this project, and how much of the investment will be privately funded, from GEH?

From Questions for the CDA about a Proposal with Green Energy Holdings —

1. Don’t both Whitewater and the State of Wisconsin have prohibitions against conflicts of interest among officials?

2. Shouldn’t we have a government, including all who serve on boards and commissions, meeting – at a minimum – the standards that our city’s ordinances, and our state’s laws, require?

3. How were these remarks [about supplies for the developer from a board member’s own employer], just less than 12 minutes into the session, from the CDA board chairman Jeff Knight, and a CDA member Jim Allen, consistent with even that minimum standard?

4. Why does the CDA chairman assume approval of a deal even before going into closed session?

5. In light even of a potential conflict (and that’s a generous interpretation), why did the CDA member and chair vote on this proposal?

6. In light of a potential conflict (again, a generous interpretation), why did the CDA member and chair vote on the GEH proposal?

7. In light of a potential conflict (again, a generous interpretation), why did the CDA member and chair even participate in this part of the CDA discussion?

8. In light of a potential conflict (again, a generous interpretation), will the CDA member and chair continue to participate in CDA discussions of GEH?

9. What did the CDA know about this project at the time it deliberated preliminary approval?

10. If GEH is providing private funding, have audited financial statements for the company been provided to the city and CDA for the purposes of ascertaining whether GEH can meet its commitments?

11. Why was there nothing about GEH in the CDA’s online agenda packet?