Papers aren’t covering ‘real news’

To the editor:
    My staff has been strongly advised to disconnect my phone on the date my next filing with the Federal Elections Commission is due. The two largest and most liberal papers in the district, the Lewiston Sun Journal and the Bangor Daily News, seem to have worked out a scheme to elicit information from me that they hope to use to embarrass my campaign. Knowing that I will say whatever I actually think, and that no other candidate will even pretend to talk to them, it goes something like this:
    A looming deadline, a sultry female voice, a few colorful Frary quotes and a little creative editing is all they need. "Do you think the FEC forms will be filled out properly on time" they croon, knowing that I'm working against the deadline as they ask. How should I know? I should have told them to wait until 6 p.m. and look it up on the FEC Web site, but that is asking too much of a journalist these days. "What do you think of the FEC regulations?" Colorful things are said, very nearly the same things one might say if one struck their thumb with a hammer. "What will happen if you don't (get off the phone with me and) finish the forms in time?" they ask. I suppose there might be fines, I said.
    Imagine my amazement when the next day on page 1 of the LSJ above the fold the headline screams "FRARY FACES FINES". Colorful quotes ensued. The reporter (or more likely, her editor) hadn't even looked on the FEC Web site to discover what actually had transpired. It turns out that I am in compliance with FEC regulations. As of this minute.
    The other week I was in the 4th of July parade in Bangor, and survived the entire march on foot. Along the way, I noted literally hundreds, perhaps thousands of signs, calling on the politicians to do something about oil prices and DRILL NOW. Nothing appeared in the BDN about it. Selective vision?
    The fact is that the two largest newspapers in the district no longer even care enough to pretend to report real news. They have a left wing agenda, and they only report the selected facts, of which there are tragically few, that support their preferred candidates and positions. Both endorsed Baldacci, and both will endorse my opponent. Amazing how few of the weekly papers engage in this duplicity. The two daily newspaper's bias is evident, and don't expect to see any mash notes about me in their pages before the election.
    Forewarned is forearmed. Read between the lines and please consider me when it comes time to show your disdain for the Drive By Media by voting for me this November.
John Frary
Candidate for U.S. Congress.
Farmington