Bellefontaine reporter facing discipline for calling you "bigots"

This story just took another strange turn.

Last week, we told you about the Bellefontaine mayor who uses federal welfare programs.

Brannon claims poverty, but his situation is entirely of his own making. Both he and his wife have college degrees, but have purposefully decided to live on only $27,000 a year. Fine. That's his business and his alone.

Until he demands that the rest of us actual taxpayers actually feed the children he decided to have. Not only is he irresponsible, he dares to act like a victim. Just like Romney described.

Then, a couple of days later, I got a nasty response from a writer at the Bellefontaine Examiner after forwarding the link to the paper.


It looks like that response may have gotten him into hot water. Jon Cassidy of Ohio Watchdog reports:

A reporter for the Bellefontaine Examiner may be fired for calling conservatives bigots during an e-mail argument about a small-town mayor whose family is receiving food stamps.

Nate Smith, a staff writer for the paper, sent a sharply worded email last week to Nick Mascari, the main blogger at Third Base Politics, accusing him of throwing “a bunch of red meat at a group of judgmental, conservative bigots.”

The Examiner's management did not authorize the response, and apologized for the incident.

Hubbard, the Examiner’s manager, said that Smith’s email was unauthorized.

“The Examiner, a fifth-generation family-owned business, has endeavored since 1891 to produce a politically independent, family-friendly daily product, and deeply regrets this unfortunate incident,” Hubbard said.

Cassidy didn't interview yours truly, and got one minor detail wrong. I forwarded our link to the Examiner's general newsroom email, not to Nate Smith directly. Smith is just the one who responded.

Kudos to Mr. Cassidy for continuing to follow up on the story and for helping us hold the media accountable.

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