The OPB Story, “The city of Independence wants to be free — of this lawmaker,” reporter Dirk VanderHart tells the tale of the little quaint town of Independence, Oregon being embarrassed, and actually wanting to distance itself from State Representative Mike Nearman.

In the account four people — the Monmouth-Independence’s Chamber of Commerce Executive Director, the Mayor of Independence, an Independence Hotel manager and the State Representative for Independence, Paul Evans — all are quoted assuming Nearman did something wrong, something beyond the pale. What the article fails to note is that all four of these people are registered Democrats, and would most likely enjoy seeing the four-term State Representative ousted from office.

What’s disappointing is the quotes from these four Democrats are unprovable, anecdotal stories about people from out of town deciding not to visit or do business in Independence because of Representative Nearman’s actions and that his mailing address is Independence, Oregon — even though he doesn’t actually represent the town of Independence. This just doesn’t seem to ring true — who looks up a State Representative’s mailing address to decide not to visit a town, but then to call the local chamber or Mayor stating such?

However, the biggest problem with the OPB story is the narrative it peddles — that Representative Nearman did something wrong and therefore should lose his House seat. And that is the point, it has yet to be determined whether Representative Nearman actually did anything illegal or wrong. He walked out a door, a door he has probably used many times during his legislative career. There were no police guarding it, no signs stating not to use the door, nor was any instruction provided to legislators and staff that day on which Capitol entrances and exits to use or which ones to avoid.

What’s lacking in the media’s witch hunt is to allow for due process. However, when the politician is a Republican, and a very conservative one at that, innocent until proven guilty is apparently thrown out in favor of warming the tar and plucking the feathers.

The story makes the point that Nearman doesn't represent the actual town of Independence. He lives in rural Polk County, just north of Independence and is served by the Independence post office. What's also lacking in this story is the story of the State Representative who does represent the City of Independence, Paul Evans (D-Monmouth). If the City of Independence blushes at Nearman, they must really cringe at their own State Representative who has racked up multiple campaign finance violations, was called before the House Conduct Committee for calling Republican Senators "Terrorists" and has authored a (warning: this link contains graphic content) vampire porn novel, Springtime in Babylon.

Asked for his thoughts, Nearman said, "This is clearly 'Cancel Culture' at work. No one calls up the mayor or a town and tells them that they're not going to move there or do business with the town because of a politician. These people are either not that smart, or they are complicit -- they're on the same team. I think Dirk VanderHart at OPB got used by leftist activists. He should be ashamed."

It is a sad day when mainstream journalism has lost its ability to be neutral in order to seek facts and truth, rather than propelling a narrative to ruin someone’s political career and life in order to get a few more clicks for their publisher.


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2021-01-23 16:35:29

Last Update: 2021-01-23 17:06:28