I ran into Adam Sexton not long after House HHS Vice Chair Erica Layon’s DUI arrest and gave him crap. I said something like “shame on you, Adam Sexton, you’ve stooped to the level of trashy tabloids,” to which he pointed out that he/his employer covers ALL arrests of legislators. He went on to mention Laughton and Woodburn, claiming to give equal attention to Dems.
In a separate and later conversation, he claimed that Jan Schmidt told him he wasn’t doing a good enough job covering Republican dirty laundry. I don’t know if that was before or after the snow plow incident arrest of former Rep Jeffrey Greeson, a Republican who recently resigned and moved back to his native Oklahoma. Laughton and Woodburn went on to have more legal woes involving jail time and media attention that was not exclusive to WMUR.
Let’s look at the above list of current and former legislators. It’s bipartisan, bicameral, and represents ordinary men, an ordinary woman, and trans-Laughton. It represents leadership and non-leadership. It has geographic diversity, including Hillsborough, Grafton, Coos, and Rockingham Counties. It represents a wide age range, 30s to 50s. One could argue that despite WMUR’s reputation in other matters, Adam Sexton was correct UNTIL NOW!
Before submitting my most recent piece on House Judiciary Vice Chair Scott Wallace, I emailed Adam Sexton and some of his non-WMUR peers a copy of the criminal complaint (a public record) of Scott Wallace’s recent arrest for stealing Trump signs. Crickets. Not long after confronting Adam Sexton following the Layon arrest, I ran into her and told her that “I gave him a good talking to,” as the Christmas Story mother would say to Ralphie’s old man at the dinner table following his schoolyard fight with the bully. She shrugged with a stoic answer like “his job is to report the news, and that was news.” Why is the NEWS of Scott Wallace’s arrest, not WMUR-worthy? Asking everyone but Spike because he already weighed in on this.
I surmise that most ordinary rules don’t apply to Scott Wallace. Remember that big 4×8′ sign that was still standing near the Epping Market Basket just a few days ago? It was supposed to have been removed a month ago(by 9/20), and a little birdie told me that it interestingly disappeared sometime after my Tuesday(10/22) article was published.
Scott Wallace has an entourage of fans and sympathizers who have no problem criticizing me for criticizing him. Let it be known that free speech is for everyone, including such people, but why are such people ignoring parts of the truth? He missed a campaign finance report deadline on 9/18. Truth. He failed to remove his campaign signs by the post-primary deadline, as noted above. Truth. He was arrested for stealing Trump signs on 9/25. Truth.
Scott Wallace has the right to due process and equal justice, just like everyone else. Hey, even Gordon MacDonald told the press that his colleague, the embattled Judge Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi, has the same rights as everyone else. However, I sadly predict that WMUR will continue to ignore Wallace, especially considering that his arraignment is scheduled for the same day as the election. Adam Sexton being everywhere but the courthouse is as guaranteed as death and taxes.
As I noted in a previous article, the Scaers also have federal court that day for their flagpole suit against the City of Nashua, which inspires a question to close with. How many other cases in ANY of our courts are scheduled on the same day because the media wants people to forget about them?
