Newstradamus

"You're dethsssssspicable!"

I was listening to an interview with Eureka City Councilman Larry Glass on KSLG last week regarding the state attorney general’s office’s decision not to act on Glass’ charge that businessman Rob Arkley threatened and shoved him.

In the middle of the interview, Glass launched into a tantrum about media coverage of the incident, saying, “The papers treated it as comic relief. The Times-Standard took great glee in trying to ridicule me by portraying me as a baby who was whining, complaining and crying. They’re despicable in their portrayal of this whole thing.”

“The Times-Standard?” asked the interviewer, John Matthews, expressing surprise.

“Rich Somerville in particular,” Glass replied. “Editorial cartoons, editorials and spinning the coverage.” The councilman said it was a “horrible mistake” for Somerville to have been hired as editor of the Times-Standard.

If politicians or other public officials think I’m terrific, I usually wonder what we’ve been missing. Thus, I take Glass’ crack as a compliment, sort of like being on Nixon’s “Enemies List.”

But the unsubstantiated characterization of the Times-Standard’s coverage of the Arkley-Glass incident — the equivalent of tossing a hand grenade and running — is surprising from a person who is described by his friends as straightforward.

If Glass thinks the Times-Standard slanted its coverage to make the councilman look ridiculous, he should provide specific examples, since I am not aware of any. I will reserve space on our opinion page for him to do so.

Certainly there were some letters to the editor from the public calling Glass a whiner, and one cartoon by a Eureka resident — labeled as such — depicting both Glass and Arkley as brawling babies. The councilman, according to surrogates who complained to us, mistakenly thought the Times-Standard had commissioned the cartoon, or endorsed it.

Of course, our opinion page is a forum for all viewpoints, and reader-submitted cartoons are treated with the same impartiality as reader-submitted letters and My Word guest columns. It would be surprising if Glass would have it any other way. The statement that “the opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the editorial viewpoint of the Times-Standard” appears regularly on the editorial page, even though the concept would seem obvious.

Our clearly labeled editorials, which ARE the opinion of the Times-Standard’s Editorial Board, have never treated the Arkley-Glass confrontation as “comic relief.” In fact, one of them said accusations of threats to an elected official are “as serious as a heart attack.” The only effort at comedy I’m aware of was Glass’ on-air snicker about a new name he’d coined for Arkley: “The Bully-onaire.”

Regarding “spinning,” it’s an amusing accusation to come from a politician and special-interest activist. Moreover, if Glass’ goal is to demonstrate he is not a whiner, his strategy is an odd one. Apparently there is more than one prominent figure in town who is prone to intemperate outbursts in public.