Multiple Times We’ve Been Requested to Deep Dive Candidate Backgrounds, This is Why We Don’t (Opinion)

It happens every election year. We get multiple “tips” regarding political candidates and their past (mis)deeds from far before Radio Free Hub City even existed. And while we’ll happily cover current events involving candidates, such as when Delegate Candidate Ocewana Baker Pleads Guilty to Assault, or when County Commissioner Candidate Curtis Reigh Granted Probation Before Judgment in Trespass Case, we typically won’t research the backgrounds of candidates (or even current elected officials) due to multiple reasons, including time constraints, resources, fairness, and especially the chance that we might get it wrong.

Time and Resources

For those unaware, Radio Free Hub City is a part time project. Three of us work on this off-and-on as time permits. And with that small team, we’ve managed to produce content that rivals other much better funded news outlets. However, when it comes to deep-dive investigations, we have to prioritize our resources. Articles like our coverage of Washington County Personnel Records Leaked in Effort to Damage County Commissioner Candidate take a significant amount of time to research, verify, and present in a format easily understandable by residents. Conducting a deep-dive into the background of candidates takes even more time, and potentially even funding to pull public records from multiple states and agencies. A single background deep-dive is likely going to take just as long as the article above regarding the leak of County personnel records. A process which took months.

Keeping it Fair for All Candidates

Now, imagine multiplying that work by 62. That’s the number of active candidates on the primary ballots just for Washington County. Even dedicating all of our time and effort to researching candidates between February and June, there is absolutely no way we could research all of the candidates.

Now I’m sure you’re asking “can’t you just go off the tips people send you?” Well, the above article regarding the County Treasurer was the result of months of research into two documents sent to us regarding Matt Breeding. The only reason we researched these documents was because they were very recent, on County letterhead. And the results of the investigation? We’ll let you know after the primary, because our dispute of the redaction or denial of associated records is still in mediation, and won’t be concluded until after the primary election. And often, the “tips” we receive are coming from those with known ties to competition, and sometimes even as vague as “there were accusations but never any conviction,” giving us absolutely tangible nothing to work with. Which brings us to the final and probably most important reason.

We Might Get it Wrong

There’s nothing we would hate more than to publish incorrect information about a candidate, such as what recently happened with a District 25 candidate Joseph Tolbert III in Capital News Service. In this incident, an error from Maryland Case Search resulted in the wrong charges being listed regarding Tolbert. Even when corrected quickly, this kind of error can be devastating and unintentionally sway votes. But just as potentially concerning would be publishing that we researched a candidate and found no criminal background, only to find out they had a charge like a violent felony in another state that we overlooked. In any case, because we’re not private investigators running a professional background check, it’s highly likely we could get an incomplete picture. Just like what is currently happening with a Maryland Governor candidate and his lawsuit against a news media outlet, which we’ll be covering in a couple days.

And most importantly, we are a news and entertainment outlet, not a political mudslinging tabloid. Other outlets might happily dig up something that happened 10 years ago from a candidate, but that’s not us, that’s not our focus, that’s not our brand. We focus on what’s happening here and now.

So while we always appreciate when someone approaches us with a news tip, when it comes to political mudslinging from decades old issues, thanks, but no thanks.

Opinion article by Ken Buckler, all opinions are his own and do not reflect those of our advertisers or clients.

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