Everett mayoral candidate coverage biased against Sullivan

I am writing in response to the recent front page articles, July 18-21, about the four candidates vying for mayor of Everett: Brian Sullivan, Cassie Franklin, Judy Tuohy, and Shean Nasin.

It seems to me that The Herald has done its readers yet another disservice. While the articles on the latter three were little more than warm and fuzzy puff-pieces, in the piece on Brian Sullivan, The Herald went far out of its way to include glaring negative quotes from any and all past opponents and adversaries of Mr. Sullivan. No one who has spent any amount of time in public service is without detractors, but The Herald did not deem it worthy to include any negative opinions or quotes about Franklin or Tuohy. (I omit Mr. Nasin, who is a first-time candidate.) Had the reporter attended any of the so-called meetings or interviewed the affected petitioners against the forced Berkshire low-barrier housing scheme, for which both Franklin and Tuohy heavy-handedly voted in favor, I’m sure he could have filled the entire first section with such comments, and then some.

Now, we all know that newspapers frequently endorse candidates, but that is usually confined to the opinion page. In publishing these biased, thinly-veiled endorsements and attacks on the front page, the Herald has crossed the line between journalism and propaganda.

Michael Neeley

Everett