Eclectic commentary from a progressive voice in the red state

Friday, February 27, 2015

More Harrison Street Hyposcrisy

In my experience as a journalist, nothing provokes a reporter with fire in his belly more than someone lying or showing rank hypocrisy. An in Amarillo, we have plenty of that to go around ahead of the city elections. Here is the latest display of hypocrisy from the Amarillo Globe-News, the daily rag owned by Koch Brother allies Morris Communications, which is based out of state, “Forget downtown redevelopment problems and other controversies that have stained city government the past few months and years.”

Residents and voters of our fair city must remember this at May’s City Council election. You see, much of the blame for staining city government lays directly at the feet of the Globe-News, which aims to be an opinion leader. The paper’s publisher, Les Simpson, has been involved in the stain that is downtown development. He is a key member of the Downtown Amarillo Inc. board, serving as chairman at the time that DAI Executive Director Melissa Dailey brought us Wallace Bajjali Development Partners, or WBDP. You know what WBDP stands for, don’t you? We Break Development Promises.

I’ll have more to write about Wallace Bajjali and the City Council in subsequent posts, of course. But the message here is clear. Readers should treat “information” and opinions in the Amarillo Globe-News like “Seinfeld” episode “The Bizarro Jerry.” Do the opposite and you’ll be better off for it.