Newspaper Reports Personal Credit History On City Council Candidate

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Regardless of what you or I might think of K. Andreah Briarmoon, I thought the article published on the front page of Wednesday's Janesville Gazette was completely uncalled for. Not that her personal history or economic status is off limits to public scrutiny, after all - she is running for Janesville city council. It's just that she was singled out much like Kevin B. and Kelly O. were by the newspaper two years ago when they ran for city council.

Although Briarmoon has made herself an easy target with her own show on JATV and is a persistent city hall activist, front paging a private citizen's foreclosure and credit history would be an unreasonable invasion of privacy. So in order for the Gazette to justify the invasion they mixed in a question relating to her city council candidacy.

JG Excerpt:
When asked why residents should vote for her to manage the city budget when she apparently cannot manage her own, Briarmoon answered: “I chose to fight the city, and I knew it was going to cost me, and it did. I knew I was going to lose my properties. But our Constitution is worth it.

And what were the responses from the other candidates? Ooops, there were no other responses.

For one thing, city council members do not manage the budget. The city manager and his administration are charged with managing the city budget and lucky for them, they merely have to balance the budget without any regard to generate the revenue on their own. Not like the rest of us who must rely on our own personal productivity to generate an income to pay our bills. So let's not kid ourselves here, this really isn't about questioning a city council candidate's ability to balance a city budget based on their home budgeting experience and personal credit history. Because if it was, the newspaper would have reported on all the current council members and candidate's business and home finances just the same. They did not.

By doing what they did the newspaper purposely isolated and demeaned Briarmoon based on her economic hardship. In other words, they did a hit job on her.

Real classy.