"Never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel"

Let me say right at the outset I have no bones to pick with either Kyle City Manager Scott Sellers or his assistant city manager James Earp. Quite the contrary, I respect both individuals. I like both of them a great deal. They would be two individuals I would want to have over for an outdoor beer and barbecue bash. At the same time I’ve got to say that I began receiving a regular salary as a reporter before each of them was born, Does that make me infallible? Of course not. But I have been around long enough to know the rules of the game.

My previous post immediately before this one concerned my reactions to the very first meeting of the Charter Review Commission. My only intention was to give my thoughts about what happened at that meeting. It has subsequently come to my attention that Mr. Sellers sent the following e-mail message to all the members of the Kyle City Council:

"This week the charter review commission met and had a wonderful meeting. The commission was encouraged to meet as frequently as necessary and at times which are convenient to them and the public. Citizen comment was also encouraged.

"I mention this because a recent article stated just the opposite, and attempted to disparage the city, the charter review process, and Mr Earp. I am writing to dispel the inaccuracies of said article, and I am grateful for your efforts to ascertain the truth and defend the city. Thank you for all you do in defense of the truth and your employees."

Although he doesn’t mention me by name, since I was the only reporter covering the commission’s meeting I imagine he is talking about me. I emphatically stand by everything I wrote in that article. Not only that, I recorded the meeting and I invite anyone — anyone at all — who wants to legitimately accuse me of writing things that aren’t true to listen to the recording and judge for themselves. I went back and listened to the recording again before I wrote the article to make absolutely sure what I was writing was 100 percent accurate.

Furthermore, I made absolutely no attempt to disparage the city, the process or Mr. Earp. I just reported what went on. And instead of them admitting "You know what, we could have probably said some things in that meeting differently," owned up to their own statements and then talked about ways of not repeating and/or amending them, they decided to try to blame someone else. The headline of this post comes from Mark Twain and it is just as true today as it was when he originally wrote it.

Here’s something else I find interesting. I have always found that when individuals honestly believe they have been wronged in some way by the media, they will go directly to that media outlet and demand a retraction or a correction. Funny thing is, I haven’t heard a word from Mr. Sellers or Mr. Earp. If they honestly believed I wronged them or the city in some way, why didn’t they share those feelings with me? The answer is because they know what they are saying to the council is not true and they are covering their you-know-whats. I also find it fascinating that in his note to the city council, Mr. Sellers did not cite one specific thing I wrote that was untrue. And you know why? Because he couldn't. So he just tries to cast a shadow over the entire article. Unfortunately, that's an all-too-typical bureaucratic reaction.

But like I said earlier, anyone who really wants to know what was said in that meeting only has to listen to my recording of it and then judge for yourselves. I invite anyone who believes what I said might be factually incorrect to listen to the recording. Unlike others, I have absolutely nothing to hide and nothing to be ashamed of.