More than what’s in a name

I got a call last week from a Greenlighter who had a complaint about

how some people are identified in letters to the editor.

I’m not going to name names here, because that isn’t important,

but this person is basically a longtime Newport Beach resident who

believes in keeping the town he grew up in much the same as it always

has been.

Since that’s kind of the driving force behind Greenlight,

maintaining the status quo of one of the most beautiful towns in the

nation, this anonymous person could be just about anyone, right?

Still, his question was, why do we identify him or others as being

associated with Greenlight or any other community group, but we don’t

do that with everyone.

For example, he noted that a local commercial real estate broker

had written a letter to us in praise of the Sutherland resort project

being planned for Marinapark.

But we didn’t identify him as a commercial broker, merely as Joe

Citizen.

That’s not fair, he said.

My phone caller was bringing up a problem that plagues many

citizen activists. The more vocal an activist becomes, the more

suspect their commentary becomes because readers soon associate them

with having an agenda.

But it is our duty to identify those who are part of a certain

organization to make sure the readers understand what point of view

the letter writer is coming from.

I’m not sure, though, that a person’s occupation is always

pertinent. It may be sometimes if the person is a doctor writing on

health issues or an attorney writing on the law. But for the most

part, someone’s occupation is not germane to the argument.

We don’t even ask for a letter writer’s occupation. We ask for

their full name, their hometown and their phone number, mainly just

for verification purposes.

I’m sure that we get letters from people who are commercial

brokers, or developers or who work in the building industry and are

anti-Greenlight or in favor of development.

On the other hand, because, as I said before, Greenlight is

populated by all stripes of folks, there are brokers and developers

and those in the building industry who are also of that persuasion.

So, occupation becomes pretty meaningless.

Still, I’ll make a plea to our readers to play fair.

If you have a particular agenda or your occupation is one where

you stand to gain for taking a certain stand or you are related to an

elected official or a city leader, please say so.

Our readers deserve that honesty, and so does your local

newspaper.

* * *

On a final note, I’d like to say happy birthday to a certain

4-year-old future president of the United States named Danielle, who

has changed my life in more ways than I could ever imagine. I’m a

lucky dad.