Future Park City candidates had better suck up to the Park Record OR ELSE

Yesterday the Park Record announced that Event Organizer Daniel Lewis jumped candidate Chadwick Fairbanks to win the right to appear on this Fall’s City Council ballot. As of August 13th, Mr. Fairbanks held a two-vote lead, but due to uncounted ballots, as of 8/27, it turns out Mr. Lewis won by two votes. So, Mr. Lewis will be on the Fall ballot.

If you’ve attended the Park City Farmer’s Market, you’ve likely seen Mr. Lewis greeting patrons as they pick out their berries and greens. If you’ve attended a Utah Republican state convention, you’ve probably seen Mr. Fairbanks compete for a position. Both were vying for the last spot on the ballot to choose who would represent Park City on the City Council.

The truth is both of these guys had an uphill battle to win the election. Mr. Lewis lacks name recognition, and Mr. Fairbanks is associated with the Republican Party.

Yet, given all that, the more important story is that the Park Record has lost most of the credibility it has left.

In the July 27/28 edition of the Park Record, Jay Hamburger wrote a front-page, masthead article entitled “Candidate’s online trail veered right” on Mr. Fairbanks. The subtitle was “City Council hopeful pushed conspiracies on Twitter.” As a friend wrote to me, “This is the Park Record’s way of saying, don’t vote for Chadwick Fairbanks.”

Yep.

That would be OK if it were an editorial. Yet, Mr Hamburger singled out Mr. Fairbanks in a news article, at the top of the page, that went years-back in twitter comments, and DESTROYED him.

I get what the Park Record was trying to do. They searched Twitter and found some quotes by Mr. Fairbanks that they disagreed with and thought the audience would disagree with. They posted those thoughts and it made a difference.

Congratulations.

The Park Record was able to influence an election.

Don’t get me wrong. I personally disagree with Mr. Fairbanks on many (perhaps most) things, including those about people of Jewish ancestry (my nieces are Jewish). His views expressed on Twitter are shit.

Yet, the way the Park Record has handled this election so far is crappy, too. They shouldn’t single out a candidate and run a hit-piece on someone they don’t like.

To contrast this, let’s then look at the Park Record’s article, written again by Jay Hamburger, entitled “Becca Gerber, fighting for working moms, wants second term. The title tells you all you need to know about who Mr. Hamburger, and the Park Record, support.

They could have equally titled the article, “Becca Gerber has been unable to solve traffic issues during her tenure as City Councilperson.”

All said, I don’t live in Park City and don’t get a vote. I assume both Ms. Gerber and Mr. Fairbanks are OK people in their own ways. I’m sure each has their flaws, as all of us do. What I object to is the blatant favoritism shown by the Park Record.

Maybe the Park Record will prove me wrong in the general election and delve deeply into Facebook profiles, Twitter posts, Next Door comments, voting records and tangible successes from every candidate. I won’t hold my breath, though.debat