You Can’t Always Get What You Want, But All You Want’s The Truth

The recall furor is over but the agenda remains the same.

In her never ending quest to stroke the hand that feeds her, Bonner Joy, the editor and publisher of The Islander, has purposefully deceived you again. And this time there’s no hiding it.

It wasn’t enough to embarrass herself and her staff when she promoted the results of her sham popcorn “straw vote” last fall with front page fervor announcing winners who turned out to get the fewest, by far, real votes of five commission candidates.

It wasn’t enough when, after dishonoring Commission Chairman John Quam’s quiet strength with the gavel, she claimed to have endorsed him when she’d done nothing of the sort.

It wasn’t enough to report that several more people had been targeted for public records requests by her pet “government watchdog” Michael Barfield but conveniently leave out the fact that her reporter too was targeted.

It wasn’t enough when she allowed her reporter to make up quotes from thin air and to completely ignore a commission meeting speaker meltdown so egregious that two commissioners and the mayor found it necessary to shout the speaker back to order.

It wasn’t enough to become the devoted publicity arm of the recall effort from the early “shadow government” headlines to a final nuzzling with Mayor Barford, mayor wanna-be Sandy Mattick and the rest of her recall posse at a celebration last Friday oddly reminiscent of the famous bar scene from the original Star Wars movie.

No, it hasn’t been enough for her to repeatedly rail that opponents of PAR’s malevolent strategy are the reason local businesses may fail at the same time she’s having her website redesigned by a guy who is local to London, as in England; the half-dozen local designers be damned.

And it hasn’t been enough that she calls her paper “the best news” on the island and continues to claim, “our awards have come primarily from news and editorial content…” when in fact her paper won exactly zero “news” or “editorial” awards while her island competitor The Sun won three editorial and reporting awards from the Florida Press Association in 2009.

So, with the recent lynching of due process accomplished and the recall no longer providing fertile material with which to dupe readers, the next logical target of the Pine Avenue warlords and therefore of their publicist Bonner Joy, has become Mike Selby, candidate for mayor. As you know, Mike is a war and commercial development veteran and he and his wife are active citizens of Anna Maria. He told us a little about himself HERE.

This week’s Islander wastes no time in signaling Bonner Joy’s marching orders in the weeks leading up to the election. She doesn’t even try to hide the fabrication. In a highlighted and prominently placed page 5 story with no byline or other indication of authorship (and therefore the realm of the editor), Bonner Joy tells readers that Mike Selby “wrote code enforcement officer Gerry Rathvon” and “resigned his position as an alternate member of the Anna Maria Code Enforcement Board.” She cleverly does not give the date of the letter or when it was received by Ms. Rathvon. She goes on to add that the letter “comes on the heels of the election ousting Harry Stoltzfus whom Selby supported...” Here’s Mike's letter, you can click it to enlarge:

Bonner Joy’s snarky implication is that Mike Selby resigned as a result of the Stoltzfus loss and that his commentary regarding the mayor and PAR was simply sour grapes. But, as you can see, the email was written six weeks prior to (not “on the heels of”) the September 7th recall election, and before he ever considered running for mayor. There can be no confusion here. Bonner Joy lied to her readers and she knows it.

Now, you can expect her to bark that the letter was first read at a September 13th Code Enforcement meeting, the first since Selby’s resignation seven weeks earlier. True, but so what? She didn't say that. Look at the minutes from that meeting HERE. Gerry Rathvon clearly told the board and those assembled that she received the email letter July 27th. The Islander was in the room to hear her say it. Bonner Joy knew the date Mike Selby resigned at least ten days before she decided to embarrass her paper, her staff and her profession by carefully crafting, no, fabricating a story openly critical of him and his campaign stance. Her patrons must be proud. Mission accomplished. But what reader should ever trust her again?

Bonner Joy once proudly flaunted her paper’s affiliation with the Florida Press Association on her front page. Since 1879, 131 years, the FPA has been a nationally respected trade association boasting every daily and most weekly Florida newspapers as members. The FPA educates and mentors, it recognizes and awards excellence and it tirelessly supports efforts to improve its profession. One of its guiding principles is to promote “higher standards of journalism to the benefit of the industry and the public.” For some reason, Bonner Joy no longer flaunts the FPA affiliation on her front page.

Go figure.

Stay informed.

Bill Yanger

“She was practiced at the art of deception…”

Rolling Stones, You Can’t Always Get What You Want