Campaign trail not the place for blame game

Politics and journalism have a relationship roughly akin to oil and water. This is, perhaps, never more pronounced than during an election season.

That politicians and the media have had a less-than-trusting relationship over the years should not be surprising. Politicians, after all, are concerned with looking good and winning votes. So their purpose does not always mesh with the business of news-gathering.

Blaming the media, while always a popular pastime among the elected, has been elevated to a near art form under the present administration in Washington. Local folks had a chance to witness this first-hand earlier this week when Rep. Don Young paid a visit to the Valley.

Addressing the unfolding scandal surrounding former Rep. Mark Foley and his inappropriate relationships with congressional pages, Young quickly condemned Foley's actions. However, he questioned the timing of the revelations that Foley had made sexual overtures to teen male pages, implying the media had embarked on a deliberate attempt to discredit Republicans in advance of the November election.

Where was the media five years ago when these incidents were first reported? Young asked. The real question is where was House leadership five years ago? Why, with all the congresspeople and staffers who apparently were aware of Foley's activities, was nothing done about it?

Blaming the media, while always convenient, is a dangerously misguided tack to take on this and other issues. But in an election year, when part of that bashing is a continued insistence that he is misrepresented by reporters, it is difficult to not note a whiff of hypocrisy in Young's tone.

When given the opportunity to &#8220set the record straight” and talk about issues that matter to him in a meaningful forum - a debate with Diane Benson, his opponent - Young has refused. Instead, the extent of the 17-term incumbent's campaigning will be the slick advertising paid for by his mostly out-of-state corporate sponsors.

But this is hardly a federal-level-only problem. Gov. Frank Murkowski has proven himself quite adept, during the course of his rocky four-year tenure, at playing the blame-the-media game.

Following his lead, some of the Valley's legislative incumbents and their supporters, unhappy with periodic opinion columns and news stories that have appeared on these pages, have expended considerable phone and face time complaining about being mistreated and misrepresented. Now, with an election less than four weeks away and plenty of opportunities for &#8220setting the record straight,” some local candidates have refused to commit to public forums and debates and, like Young, are attempting to get by on say-nothing ad campaigns funded by out-of-district money.

Willow-area voters, for example, are being denied the opportunity to see those who would represent them in Juneau because Rep. Mark Neuman and Sen. Charlie Huggins declined to participate. Neuman also declined an invitation to appear on KTNA radio in Talkeetna, and Huggins is joined by fellow incumbents Reps. Carl Gatto and Bill Stoltze in refusing to commit to Radio Free Palmer interviews.

Time will tell how this strategy plays with voters. But we believe they deserve better.