The following letter to the editor was published in the Beach Reporter newspaper (TBRnews.com) on Thursday, March 22, 2012 in the Letters section. The Beach Reporter has a strict 250-word limit.
Dirty politics
Recently there have been some nasty reports by media outside El Segundo, presenting a one-sided view of supposed shady dealings by the city and Chevron. The purpose was to shock the audience, not present a thoughtful, balanced picture of questions about the company’s taxes.
What was shocking to me, as a lifelong resident of El Segundo and a Chevron employee, was the blatant misinformation, inaccurate statements wrongly presented as facts, and the lack of equal time given to those who didn’t share the anti-big-oil hysteria promoted by the reporters and producers.
It would have been nice to hear from the former mayors, community leaders and others who were troubled not by the idea of looking into Chevron’s tax history but by the rush to put a tax increase on the ballot without first fully investigating the facts. It would have been nice if the TV producers had interviewed those folks instead of an out-of-town political activist with no ties to our community.
Now there’s an unsigned ad in the El Segundo Herald encouraging voters to watch this biased, unbalanced “report,” which slams not only Chevron but a current City Council candidate, and then go to the polls.
What voters should consider is, who is spending so much money to spread negative political propaganda but not willing to identify himself to the very people he’s trying to influence?
This is dirty politics at its worst and should be recognized and rejected as such.
Dianna K. Day, El Segundo
El Segundo Police Officers' Association (ESPOA) Exposed