Cavanagh upset by editorials
Saying he’s fed up with Herald-Standard editorials that contain factual inaccuracies and single him out for criticism, Fayette County Commissioner Sean M. Cavanagh said Tuesday he won’t seek the newspaper’s endorsement when running for re-election in 2003. Cavanagh said an editorial in Tuesday’s paper attributed a comment to him that actually was made by architect Michael S. Molnar. Cavanagh said it was Molnar who said at a recent prison board meeting that he’d like to see a planned bricks-and-mortar addition to the Fayette County Prison last for 200 years, following the traditional view in Europe.
“I never said that,” said Cavanagh. “The Herald-Standard wrote editorials about me that were false … I call them ‘predatorial editorials.’ You’re putting things in your editorials that are not 100 percent accurate.”
Cavanagh said that he was previously criticized in editorials because of someone else’s contention that the construction cost of a barracks-style minimum security facility on courthouse grounds was $200,000 over budget. Cavanagh said that project’s construction price rose only $38,000 through change orders.
Those two examples are only part of what Cavanagh called a pattern of editorial commentary that he believes is designed to criticize him at every turn, with little or no regard for the facts.
Cavanagh said he will not meet with the Herald-Standard’s editorial board and consequently will not seek the newspapers’ endorsement for his re-election. He said he’d take his case straight to the people and bypass the newspaper.
“I do not want your endorsement … do not call me,” said Cavanagh. “I do not want your ‘kiss of death’ endorsement.”
In the recent past, Cavanagh has made no secret of the fact that he thinks the newspaper, editorially, has made him its favorite whipping boy. He has also said he believes there is a double standard involving him when it comes to fair and equal editorial treatment.
Using the televised commission meeting as his “bully pulpit” to set the record straight, Cavanagh said that he was not criticizing the newspaper’s reporting, which he believes is fair and accurate even though he sometimes does not like how topics are presented.
Commission Chairman Vincent A. Vicites said that he realizes that as an elected public official, he’s going to get criticism even though he’s trying to do his best. Vicites said that he will “set the record straight” whenever he feels editorially maligned, and noted that he’s currently writing a letter to the editor along that vein.
“I read that (negative) stuff and I let it go off my back,” said Vicites of his general reaction to critical commentary.
Cavanagh said that he has no problem with critical commentary, as long as it’s accurate and factual, which he maintained hasn’t always been the case.