I sent this letter to the local political party leaders in Ansonia Monday night, it applies to the state election next month.
Dear John and Tony:
I am writing to you in your capacity as political party leaders in Ansonia.
This is a tough decision, but I’m not going to be running any additional letters or press releases related to state elections.
I thought the last two letters, while clearly critical, did not express opinions that were over any type of line. I welcomed both letters.
However, The Valley Indy, since launching in June 2009, has never covered state politics or state political candidates on a regular basis — we’ve never had the money nor bodies. Our resources since day one have been aimed at covering local government to the best of our ability.
During each state election cycle, I’ve always felt uncomfortable running letters about state subjects I know nothing about.
In addition, it does not make sense for me to moderate comment threads on social media under these letters. The state political threads of the last few days, which included potentially libelous comments, opened my eyes.
Separate and apart from this: in past years (and not necessarily in Ansonia) I was simply overwhelmed by the sheer number of state candidate letters that would arrive just prior to a state Election Day letters deadline.
At this point I simply do not have the bandwidth — personally and professionally — that are needed for the State House beat.
I do have grant applications pending to add staff, hopefully this can change in the future!
Eugene Driscoll
ValleyIndy.org
