John Paul – 11/6/11

This page was last updated on November 8, 2011.

Editorial: Time Spent With Tony Amadio and Joe Spanik; John Paul; Beaver Countian; November 6, 2011.

Less than 15 hours after I published my critique of a Paul piece entitled “Monday Musings Volume 8,” Mr. Paul removed the article from his website. I don’t know if the removal had anything to do with the critique.

Below is a detailed critique of excerpts from the subject opinion piece.

In summary, Mr. Paul is upset incumbent Beaver County Commissioners Tony Amadio (D) and Joe Spanik (D) didn’t grant him an exclusive interview.

Mr. Paul wrote the following at the end of his editorial:

“Full Disclosure: While I do my best to keep my personal politics out of my political reporting, in the interest of full disclosure I have made it widely know that I am, and always have been, a registered Democrat. I find it very telling that the Republican and Independent Candidates in this race have deemed me fair and impartial enough to grant interviews to, yet the two Democratic Candidates have not.”

Let’s take a closer look at Mr. Paul’s “full disclosure.”

First, Mr. Paul wrote he “do[es] [his] best to keep [his] personal politics out of [his] political reporting” and he’s “fair and impartial enough.” After Mr. Paul referred to State Rep. Jim Christiana (R-15) as “a coward” because their positions on same-sex marriage differ, Mr. Christiana might disagree.

Second, other than this piece, I didn’t find any evidence Mr. Paul “made it widely know that [he is], and always [has] been, a registered Democrat.” That said, it was only a quick search and his left leanings are pretty obvious after you read more than a couple of Mr. Paul’s articles.

Third, Mr. Paul failed to note his puff-piece “A Day Spent Walking With Craig Conforti” included some unflattering comments about Mr. Spanik allegedly from some Center Township locals. That couldn’t have anything to do with Mr. Spanik and his running partner declining a day-long interview, could it?

Fourth, Mr. Paul failed to note he has a business and/or political relationship with Jack Manning, an Independent running for County Commissioner. Mr. Paul accepted or donated a political ad for Mr. Manning on the Beaver Countian. Could this apparent conflict of interest be another reason why Mr. Spanik and his running partner declined an interview? In fairness, traditional media outlets also accept political advertising, but those outlets claim to have “Chinese walls” between the news, editorial, and business parts of the outlet. I don’t believe it, but that’s their story. In Mr. Paul’s case, however, he appears to be the “chief cook and bottle washer” of the Beaver Countian.

Finally, I have my own “full disclosure.” In August 2011, Mr. Paul and I had a dust-up over a critique I published about a piece on his website written by State Rep. Jesse White (D-46). Apparently unaware and/or dismissive of “fair use” law, Mr. Paul repeatedly claimed I stole his work. You can find the back-and-forth on my Facebook wall. It appears Mr. Paul since scrubbed the dialog from his websites. Incredibly, about six weeks after accusing me of theft, Mr. Paul sent me an e-mail note saying he would “love to hear [my] opinion on what steps [I] think [he] could take to be more balanced in [his] reporting or coverage” and “[My] thoughts would remain between us.” I politely replied, “No thanks.”

Here’s some back-story you may find interesting. On February 2, 2011, I received an e-mail note from Mr. Paul soliciting my business. Concluding with “Keep up the good work!”, I assumed Mr. Paul was familiar with TheBirdsEyeView.us. This is important because I’ve been writing my critiques (more than 3,500) for over seven years using the same methodology and style as I do now and Mr. Paul apparently had no problem with that approach. Neither did anyone else. I did not reply to Mr. Paul.

Jumping ahead to the August 2011 dust-up, in one of his comments Mr. Paul wrote, “If Mr. Cox would like to use this platform [Mr. Paul’s hosting service] to promote his own site so a larger audience can be exposed to his opinions, I certainly welcome that as well.” That’s right; in the middle of calling me a thief, Mr. Paul appeared to indicate he still wanted my business! Please draw your own conclusions.