Newspaper's "antics" raise Reno activist's ire... Sam Dehné
Reno's biggest newspaper recently dedicated several pages to the current mayor... as a transparent promotion for his attempt to get re-elected. Within two days, the paper then ran a short article on me that departed from straight news reporting... painting value judgments on my conduct at the April 14th Reno city council meeting... referring to my behavior as "Activist's antics".
As the only other announced candidate for Reno mayor this year, it seems my opponent is not just Jeff Griffin, but also the Reno Gazette.
Democracy can not function well without an informed electorate. When a community's most powerful newspaper promotes one candidate for a given office and demeans another candidate for that same office, public opinion suffers a skewering and democracy is short changed.
As a community activist concerned with corruption and incompetence at top levels of Reno city hall, I have attended almost all city council meetings for the past three years.
I have observed, studied, and challenged insult after insult against voters and taxpayers... perpetrated by elected officials who repeatedly abuse the public trust.
The realities at city hall make it very difficult to not challenge Griffin and Gang.
In this mayoral race, a major issue is Jeff Griffin's muddy record... at the airport, at EDAWN, at the RSCVA, and at city hall... where his fingers are stuck in the cookie jar:
* Is it right for this mayor to vote on appointments of Reno Airport Trustees who then almost immediately vote to give a plush Airport contract to the mayor's private company?
* Is it right for this mayor to vote to give city tax money to that government-subsidized EDAWN that does business with the mayor's private company?
* Is it right for this mayor to dispense large sums of tax dollars directly to political cronies who were and are instrumental in his election campaigns... effectively causing citizens to fund his campaign in tax dollars?
* Is it right for a mayor to think he has a "mandate" when he was elected by only 16% of the registered voters?
THE RENO CITIZEN is a free magazine about Reno politics that I have helped publish for 3 years. It is filled with stories about city hall "antics"... that raise my "ire"... from a citizen's perspective.
Computer savvy citizens can read it at (www.renocitizen.com).
Please call 828-1245 for a straight-forward recorded message.
Retired Air Force officer, Sam Dehné, is a 31 year Reno resident.