South Bend Tribune gets it wrong

Mr. Tim Harmon
Managing Editor
South Bend Tribune

Mr. Harmon

Today the South Bend Tribune and James Wensits published an article titled Different Takes. The clear message from the title and the content of the article is that Juan Manigault's fiscal mismanagement with the Northern Indiana Workforce Investment Board (NIWIB) over a period of years is merely Mayor Steve Luecke's opinion. That implication is false.

On September 7, 2007 I sent a letter to the South Bend Tribune summarizing the findings of a five part study -created from examination of 169 pages of public record - on this matter which was published on Progressives, South Bend. None of the information obtained in this study was authored by the Mayor. Instead, it was two outside auditors which established the pattern of management and Alan Degner, Commisioner of Indiana Workforce Development (the supervising agency for NIWIB) who characterized the costs. I received two follow up calls from Terry Bland - Assistant Editorial Page Editor and furnished him with the Degner letter.

At the point in time of this letter, the Sept. 7 letter has yet to be published. Had that letter been published, the public would have had the opportunity to judge for itself whether the characterizations were a matter of opinion - or something more.

It was interesting to note that Mr. Manigault attempted to duck responsibility by declaring he wasn't directly in charge of financial records. But CEO means Chief Executive Officer. That means "the boss".

I suppose some of this stems from the Tribune's eagerness to present both sides of issues, but it's important to note that though there may be two arguments to an issue it does not necessarily follow that each side has equal validity.

Maybe I'm being overly pessimistic. Maybe The South Bend Tribune has plans to do some actual reporting on this matter, rather than just recording. If so, I'll give credit where credit is due. Until then, this is one disappointed subscriber.

Don Wheeler