Pete Tucker, a freelance journalist in D.C., is puzzled by the Washington Post’s spin on the Maryland Governor’s Race.
He amply documents the Post’s friendly coverage of Republican Governor Larry Hogan, and its consistently unfriendly treatment of his Democratic opponent, Ben Jealous.
Hogan supports school choice. Hogan appointed Checker Finn and Andy Smarick, two hard-line advocates of school choice, to the State Board of Education. Ben Jealous supports public schools and was endorsed by the Network for Public Education Action Fund.
Tucker writes:
“In 1966 Ann Todd and Fred Jealous couldn’t get married in their home state of Maryland because they were an interracial couple. Five decades later their son Ben Jealous is the Democratic nominee for Maryland governor.
“If Jealous wins in November he will become Maryland’s first African-American governor, and the nation’s third-ever elected black governor. (Jealous hopes to share this latter distinction with two fellow Democrats also endorsed by Bernie Sanders: Andrew Gillum of Florida and Stacey Abrams of Georgia, who would also be the first-ever black woman governor.) There are presently no black governors in office.
“Jealous, the former and youngest-ever head of the NAACP, faces stiff competition, and not just from incumbent Republican Gov. Larry Hogan. The Washington Post – which dominates D.C.’s media landscape, including vote-rich Maryland suburbs in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties – has set its sights on defeating Jealous.
“This may seem bizarre. Why would the Post throw its weight behind a Republican instead of an historic candidate like Jealous? Especially when the Post’s aggressive reporting on President Trump has led to record-breaking readership and heaps of praise from Democrats.
“But the Post’s resistance to Trump is a mirage, and the paper’s politics remain far from progressive.
“Once Trump isn’t around, what will be left for the Post to resist? Surely not war, the Post supports all of them. Not climate change, where the paper’s record is mixed at best and includes support for both fracking and the Keystone XL pipeline. And not inequality, as the Post is owned by the richest man alive, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Like Amazon, the Post is anti-union – that is, against workers collectively organizing to improve their lot, an essential tool in addressing inequality.
“It’s these stances – along with the Post’s record of targeting candidates with strong African-American and progressive support – that help explain the paper’s backing of Hogan and over-the-top opposition to Jealous (who I am supporting). Still, the extent to which the Post is willing to go to sway the election is surprising.”
The Post coverage emphasizes how “popular” Hogan is.
Tucker says,
“Maryland has twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans, so Hogan needs strong Democratic support to win reelection; and the Post is determined to see that he gets it.
“Hogan, the Post explains, is widely admired for his “winning personality” and “personal appeal.” He’s just a regular guy who is “real down-to-earth,” “follows his gut” and “knows his way around a barroom.”
LWith fawning coverage like this it’s unsurprising that Hogan is “astonishingly,” “stunningly” and “hugely” popular, as the Post tells it. (The word “popular” is used so much one reader asked if the Post had exchanged it for Hogan’s first name.)”
But when the Post covers Jealous, it paints him as a leftist who wants to “soak the rich” to pay for his expensive ideas.
Tucker writes:
“Ben Jealous’s platform – which includes a $15 an hour minimum wage, single-payer health care and free state college tuition – is liked by Marylanders. So the Post downplays these policies (which it opposes), and paints Jealous as a “coup leader” who is too radical to vote for.
“Jealous’s “left-wing advance” is “irresponsible” and “anything but… centrist,” the Post tells readers. His “craven,” “reckless” “left-wing platform” will “blow a Chesapeake Bay-sized hole in the state budget.””
All the more reason for the voters of Maryland to ignore the Post and vote for Ben Jealous and begin to repair the state.
All too familiar.
One strange anomaly from MD: “In Maryland, the Republican governor, Larry Hogan, announced the obvious, that this year will be the last for PARCC.”
https://wtop.com/maryland/2018/09/maryland-wants-to-see-end-of-parcc-tests-but-whats-next/
The above from a commenter at Jersey Jazzman.
All that being said, I would recommend voting Hogan out of office in favor of Ben Jealous. I am glad and certainly hope that Jealous is not a centrist. We’ve had enough of centrists. Since when are universal health care, supporting the real public schools, $15/hour and free state college tuition radical ideas? Oh yeah, in corporate controlled USA, those ideas are radical to the Koch brothers and their paid political toadies in the government.
I live in MD and have researched this using records from BPW meetings. Yes, MD is scrapping PARCC and will contract for a “better”, computer adaptive test with a company called New Meridian. If you look into New Meridian, they own PARCC. We will just get PARCC with a different name, but more data collection. We will never be able to get rid of Pearson/PARCC as long as Hogan is in charge….the Montgomery Co school system is the incubator for Pearson curriculum and testing.
Thank you for the clarification. Give Hogan the heave-ho.
YES: Exposing the exact game which has been going on for long years with the modern-day testing company/tech. company control over education: simply change the name of the tests, change up the attached curricular programs and interchange the personnel and the entire enterprise simply never stops.
WaPo will always push for Hogan since we already have an Amazon facility in Baltimore and there is a push/bid for a second facility in the state….Montgomery Co I believe….right outside of DC? Amazon has stated it wants certain “infrastructure” in place before it will move a facility into an area and MD politicians want another facility….Hogan is willing to wheel and deal. Hogan IS widely popular in the state. He immensely cut our taxes after 8 years of (D)Gov. Martin O’Malley (read my lips….NO NEW TAXES) fee’ed us all into the poorhouse and allowed for lots of misappropriation of funds and political pork to certain politicians (Montgomery Co mainly!). It was MOM who started us on the path with Pearson/PARCC, but Hogan would never keep to his campaign promise and dissolve the MOU with Pearson…… likely because it benefits his privatization agenda and keeps him in good standing with his pals Finn and Smarick.
The crazy thing is that Jealous remains fairly quiet. He isn’t giving much information. Not many ads on TV. He’s not coming out breathing fire and blowing smoke. I don’t know if this is a political move on his part? Every time Hogan has an “agenda” he calls for a big press conference and “executive orders” a punishment of some kind….usually aimed at a Democrat or a democratic policy. It makes everything he does look so grand for him and so bad for the Dem party.
I’ll vote Jealous because I despise Hogan’s education stance/policies. I really wouldn’t care if the Dem candidate was a pink elephant with purple spots…..I’d vote for that over Hogan any day of the week. Unfortunately, we got Hogan 4 yrs ago because Anthony Brown was too much like MOM and he didn’t campaign very well.
Sounds like Hogan can campaign without campaigning. It doesn’t cost him anything to call a press conference announcing some new initiative. I am wondering if Jealous needs $$$.
Surprisingly the Post has this one right. Hogan has represented all Marylanders well. He crosses the ailse when necessary. He is a very good administrator so why jump ship now. Maryland is better today because of him.
Daniel,
Hogan supports privatization of public schools. Ben Jealous does not. That’s a good reason to vote for Jealous.
The NPE, which endorsed Jealous, supports public education.
Hogan only crosses the aisle when it suits his agenda and he wants a big TV moment. He is nothing but a bully blowhard. Yes, he decreased our taxes that Martin O’Malley jacked to the max, but he has done little else except fight for big business and keep the Trump agenda without mentioning the name. Seems like his best friend in the Trump administration is dear Betsy DeVos who has visited 2 schools in the area with our wonderful Governor.
it’s probably because of Amazon’s HQ2 scam. Hogan will probably hand Bezos a ton of taxpayer money in subsidies. So, the post investment looks to be paying dividends, right?
All these jurisdictions bidding on HQ2 are kidding themselves. Bezos wants to be in or around Washington, DC.