Keeping the Northwest Herald Honest

There’s editing and there’s editing.

The Northwest Herald asks potential candidates to answer their questions and posts their answers online.

Usually newspapers want answers that have reasoned explanations. In the Northwest Herald’s case, the editors didn’t want their previously endorsed candidate, appointed Huntley School Board member Mike Skala, to look bad, so they edited Larry Snow’s answer.

The question was:

Why are you the best person for the office that you are seeking?

To which Snow started with

“I brought higher educational standards, producing positive educational results for our students. I am a tax fighter who has saved our District millions of dollars. Mike Skala is a proven tax hiker who supports the teachers union’s unrealistic demands. Before I got on this board Skala influenced every board member to keep their mouth shut about what is truthfully really going on both education wise and financially.”

Then Snow wrote:

“Skala corrupted our school district. (Emphasis added for reasons that becmoe obvious below.) Administrators got large secret taxpayer cash payments he made sure weren’t in their employment contracts. My election will prevent his bringing back his corruption as usual.”

The Northwest Herald edited this to:

“Skala corrupted our school district”

making Snow look like he simply wrote an unfounded accusation.

Snow could have pointed to the hiring of Skala’s friend and fellow school board member Glen Stewart as chief operating officer to the $101,000 job. Not that that is corruption, but it certainly could be pointed to as cronyism. The district had the chance to get a top administrator from Cincinnati, who paid his own airfare to fly to Chicago for an interview. When the potential employee learned that the fix was in for Stewart, he withdrew his application. Stewart left his District 158 job last spring.

But the Northwest Herald editors might have edited out that out, too.


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