From the Southern Pines Pilot (6/2/13): There is an old adage that the two things you never want to watch being made are sausage and laws. These days, the joke attached to that old saying is that if I were a sausage maker, I’d be offended.
Political gamesmanship is an education in itself, as anyone who’s elected to go to Raleigh can attest. One must learn the levers and strings to pull, and when to dodge an issue or take a walk. So has it been since men gathered in tribal councils.
It was with a bit of naiveté that I made my first trips to Raleigh recently to help in the effort by newspapers to keep legal notices in the public eye, where those in government who would prefer to hide the public’s business in shadow can’t do so.
In the interest of full disclosure, yes, we do have a financial interest in keeping legal ads in the paper, and I am The Pilot’s ad director. But I was also a newspaper editor once upon a time, and know from experience that when things are kept in public view, government runs more honestly.