This week’s editorial in the Free Lance regarding the bogus ads put out by the Oil Industry against Measure J was more than welcome, it was inspiring. This restores my faith in small-town newspapers and their role in advancing the cause of democracy.
This week’s editorial in the Free Lance exposing the Oil Industry’s bogus ads against Measure J was more than welcome—it was inspiring. We often see papers write editorials like the one written in May, but how often do we see a retraction? How often do we see an editorial that challenges the underlying message of the paper’s biggest advertiser? This restores my faith in small-town newspapers and their role in advancing the cause of democracy.
The original Free Lance editorial slamming Measure J and its supporters, me included, was wildly inaccurate and inflammatory. It was far more than a reasoned opinion, it was an attack piece. And, its attack was based on a complete fabrication. It argued that because the supporters of Measure J were telling the community that Measure J allowed the continuation of conventional oil drilling in most of the county, that we were lying to the community. And since we were lying, that our campaign was characterized by deception.
There was only one problem with this. It was factually untrue. Those of us supporting the initiative (Now Measure J) were telling the truth. We were extremely upset that we were essentially being slandered by this editorial. We raised issues and the Free Lance wrote a June 18, 2014 article in which the facts were disclosed. It quoted the county’s planning director and it confirmed that what is now Measure J allows conventional oil drilling to continue in over 90 percent of the county. We thought that truth had prevailed and naively believed that after disclosure of the facts our opponents would move on to more fact based disagreements.
But, we were disappointed again. Our opponents continued to repeat the now disproved assertion that Measure J banned all oil drilling in the county. Next, the millions of dollars from the Oil Industry began to make that lie the foundation of their campaign. The Oil Industry used the original, misguided May editorial as the source for their assertions. The emperor had no clothes, but there was a $2 million dollar campaign to convince us that he was well dressed.
It’s no wonder that the folks who welcomed the original bogus editorial and have championed its message are angry as hell that the Free Lance has set the record straight and undermined the cornerstone lie of the No on J campaign. The message reveals a greater truth. That truth is that an industry with almost limitless resources and its local allies have been attempting to distort our local democracy and to contort and confuse the information that the community needs to make a decision – one that is their right to make under California law. They don’t like the message, so they seek to kill the messenger.
The rest of the citizens of San Benito County should repudiate these bullies and be thankful that there is still courage and integrity in journalism. We should look hard at those who have attacked this week’s editorial. If they are willing to contaminate the political process, how protective do you think they will be of the environment and the water that sustains us all?
The good news is that the campaign of misinformation is not working. Most people are not so gullible. They have better crap detectors than the Oil Industry’s advertisers’ assume. So there’s still hope for democracy in San Benito County.
Andy Hsia-Coron is former president of the Aromas-San Juan School District and a leader of the Coalition to Protect San Benito, which is promoting the passage of Measure J.
