Letter: Keep Politics Local, Please

lettertotheeditor

To the Editor:

I ask (beseech) you to adopt a self-imposed ban on national politics in your editorial page, if only until mid-October. While no one argues that the choice of president (or senator, governor or congressman) doesn’t have implications on the town of Greenwich, there are plenty of other platforms that readers and voters can turn to, to hear each party tout its own candidates. (And I’m sure that they’ll be hearing the messages frequently, whether they want to or not.)

I, and I imagine many of your readers, look forward to reading about local issues, events and achievements in your paper. As such, your Sentinel columnist’s (Edward Dadakis) comments (prominently in the middle of your editorial page) about his party’s (presumptive) nominee were not what I want to see. Please understand I would say the same thing if a Democratic columnist had written something similar.

I look forward to a summer of reading about enough local sports, benefits, RTM issues and BET decisions to fill your pages. I’m sure that our airwaves, bumper stickers and colleagues will keep us apprised (if not overwhelmed) with the merits of each presidential candidate. I urgently request that you do not let your paper turn from a go-to source for local news, to a platform for national political advocacy. 

Of course, the (absolutely correct) rules of free speech and a free press allow you (and the party chairs) to do as you please. However, I then may not look forward to your paper in the run-up to the election, or after. Please work with the party chairs to allow the Sentinel to be a sort of DMZ for the next four or five months.

Thank you for creating a platform where Greenwich issues can be highlighted.

John Dolan
Greenwich

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