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Censorship alive and
well in Lewis County, Washington.
The Letter
Chronicle Executive Editor
Michael Wagar Refused to Publish
We
have only one right-wing anti-government newspaper and one right-wing
anti-government radio station in Lewis County, Washington.
Michael Wagar is the executive editor of our right-wing anti-government
newspaper.
Wagar has made hate talkjock John Panesko the one man
above public scrutiny.
When a Liberal calls into Panesko's show, he talks over them,
interrupts them, tries to change their subject, calls them liars, mutes
their mic so that only HIS point of view can be heard, and if all else
fails, he cuts them off.
Single-click here
for an example.
Panesko has gotten an anti-harassment order against me to keep me from
calling in because he can't beat me in a debate. But he can't get an
anti-harassment order against everybody who disagrees with him so he
uses his caller ID to screen Democrats off the air.
Panesko complained to Wagar, so now Wagar won't publish any letters
criticizing Panesko. So that means that the only people who can speak
on Panesko's show are people who agree with him. Panesko can be as rude
as he wants to Democrats
because he knows there's no way we can complain about it.
We can't complain to him on his show and we can't write a letter to the
editor to complain about him.
Here's my letter Wagar refused to print:
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Well, I have some more sad news for Lewis County
Democrats.
As you all know, John Panesko has banned me from
calling into his radio
talk show because he can’t defend his views. Panesko has even gone so
far as to get an anti-harassment order against me to keep me from
calling his show.
Instead of putting a more neutral host on the air to give the rest of
us a chance to speak when Panesko takes a day off, the station has
allowed Panesko to hand-pick his substitute.
Panesko hand-picked Wade Samuelson to substitute for him. Samuelson has
not gotten an anti-harassment order against me yet, but he does use his
caller ID to screen me off the air. And Panesko did make it clear to me
that he and Samuelson broadcast out of Panesko’s home and that those
radio station phone numbers are his phone numbers. Panesko threatened
me that even if I call while Samuelson is on the air, he would file a
complaint against me for violating his anti-harassment order against me.
Imagine that. Two grown Republican men who can’t stand up to King
Chuck! And they’re both lawyers! I must be the most powerful man in
Lewis County, Washington.
The radio station has allowed Panesko to create his own radio dynasty.
Panesko still has a lock on who can say what on that show.
See, station manager John Di Meo is from Olympia. This is his
playground. He could never get away with running such a biased radio
station in Thurston County.
The number two man, Steve Richert, actually lives in this community.
You would think that he would be a liaison between us and Di Meo so
that all points of view could be heard on our only local talk show.
Anybody can be a talk show host if he allows only callers who agree
with him to call in. I bet Panesko and Samuelson wish that when they
walk into a courtroom that they could just tell the judge to send the
other side out of the courtroom and only listen to their side of the
story.
Panesko and Samuelson would never get away with allowing only callers
who agree with them to call in if we had a strong, viable, Democrat
Party in Lewis County. But as you all know, the Lewis County Democrat
Party, chaired by Bob Guenther and Jan Nontell, is dead. Panesko and
Samuelson are taking full advantage of that.
Until we get strong leadership in the Lewis County Democrat Party, you
will just have to be content with listening to a right-wing-wacko
lullaby whenever Panesko and Samuelson are on the air. You won’t be
getting a full and open discussion of the issues. You’ll get only the
far right-wing anti-government point of view that Panesko and Samuelson
want you to hear. Anything else is screened off the air. It isn’t fair.
It isn’t balanced.
How much lower can the Lewis County Democrat Party go?
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