Should councilmember spouses be recipients of City financial support?
It is the end election season and things are really heating up. With ballots mailed out and due by Nov.3 all the momentum of an entire campaign is weighing heavy on the backs, minds and eyelids of all the candidates. Meanwhile, on the streets among citizens there is a peculiar energy in the air. One might catch fire from merely clicking a pen, dropping a ballot or saying those two very tired words: impact fees.
With the flurry of information out there it’s a difficult to pick the right candidate. Facts, rumors, lies all come at you like black-eyed-dogs in a nightmare-gauntlet of rabid misinformation. It’s not exactly the best time to be a journalist either. To report or not to report? The answer is always to just dig.
Indeed. The Ballard News Tribune recently observed one of these hellish dissemination-dilemmas after a document started circulating last week that falsely implicated Councilmen Mike O’Brien and his wife, Julie, of being awarded funding and support from the Office of Economic Development in order to grow Julie’s small business, Firefly Kitchens. Concerned citizens emailed BNT editors wondering if these allegations were true.
