A friend sent me the following comment which followed today’s Editorial. 68 comments have been penned by a great many ghosts, folks using pen names to assure their anonymity. The last comment begs the Trib to expose me by drawing attention to my post on the subject:
Chuck Frederick, Mr Bellamy, others at the DNT – NEWS FLASH perennial candidate and go to guy whenever the DNT needs a anti-school district opinion, Mr Welty – has just admitted to engaging in letter fraud and deception (plagiarism?) over a dozen times! Admitted fraudster, Welty, boasts that he has repeatedly written letters that others submitted in his fight against the district (see his blog), gosh, now THAT seems like front page news to me – how ’bout you? He certainly deserves equal press exposure, don’t you think? If not, I am curious about your explanation.
One salient question in the comment section has to do with the difference between plagiarism and ghost writing. I think the Trib overstates the case for the former. Clearly what has transpired is not illegal as is plagiarism. But I seem to recall that the Trib makes this clear.
Another salient question has to do with why the DNT made such a big deal out of this. I think that’s a fair question. From the standpoint of precedent I can think of rather a lot of DNT editorials which have pointed out the warts of various local luminaries. I’ve even criticized at least one such column in this blog. However, in the end it is up to the discretion of the Editors to offer comments about the actions of the leaders of this community. Having the evidence drop unexpectedly into their email systems must have caught their attention.
I suspect that the current plight of the School System may explain this particular editorial. For four years the Red Plan which brought about much of this misery was given a big pass by the DNT as it chose to give the benefit of many doubts to Red Plan advocates. Every sorry headline today is an indictment against their George Bush-like absence of curiosity over the course of the last four years.
Just how well the Red Planners played the Trib is pretty clear from last summer’s editorial about the phantom $32 million that was supposed to be dropping into the School Board’s fiscal fingers. Having been misled into writing such a grandiose and gullible editorial the sour truth was acknowledged last week by the same Editors. Having been forced to eat crow its not surprising that the Editors are a bit testy these days.
I suspect that the Red Planners can expect more steely treatment from the Trib in coming months. The worse it gets in our schools, and it is likely to get much worse, the tougher the Trib is likely to be on them. Better late than never.
P.S. I can’t tell for sure from the abbreviated name my critic, “Paul” is using just who he is. However, his style of writing reminds me of the fellow who is in charge of building a new Edison school which will be capable of drawing off at least another 100 students from the Duluth School System. At around $5,000 per student that will cost ISD 709 a cool half million in state revenue or another ten teachers. How was it that Paul began his rant? Oh yes…..“Chuck Frederick, Mr Bellamy, others at the DNT – NEWS FLASH…”
