PUBLISHER’S NOTEBOOK: David Wilson’s War

This week at our printing facility at Frontiersman offices in Wasilla, we assisted the journalism department in the Mat-Su School District publish their first edition of their Mat-Su Gazette for this school year. Inside there are four full-page public service advertisements for No More Mat-Su. These PSAs are striking and have a direct message concerning sexual assault and domestic violence. Partnering with the Mat-Su Gazette on these messages are Wasilla Sunrise Rotary Club, Mat-Su Women’s Health Specialists, Gagnon Plastic Surgery and The Frontiersman. Sexual assault and domestic violence statistics in the Mat-Su Valley are staggering. Sexual assault and sexual harassment have moved to the front of the line in terms of the national discussion, largely because of the #metoo movement.

Of course, the #metoo movement has itself become a political toy/weapon.

What we’re seeing now on the political landscape is like a sick game of Five Card Draw: ”I’ll see your Al Franken and raise you a Roy Moore.”

And when the political bloggers of the digital world get involved it’s a free for all, even at the local level. It should be no surprise then that Alaska has joined the fray in a big way.

Case in point is State Senator David Wilson (R-Wasilla) and his bizarre battle defending himself against a complaint without a complainant.

Senator Wilson has been accused to have placed his phone between the legs of a female legislative aide while she was trying to block him from listening into a closed-door meeting of the House Majority caucus. The aide did not register a formal complaint, but that has not stopped others from carrying the torch for her, nor did it stop them from carrying said torch without knowing the facts.

The rumors of an incident had been circulating since last summer — mostly that Wilson had placed his ear against the door in an attempt to listen into the closed door meeting. But the situation didn’t come to a head until Jeff Landfield covered it in his new blog ‘Alaska Landmine’, which debuted in late October. If you don’t know who Landfield is, he has run for the State House and State Senate and failed both times. Once he was considered for an appointment to the Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct, but Gov. Bill Walker pulled the appointment when photos of Landfield wearing a speedo surrounded by bikini clad women circulated in the Capitol. The photos were unbecoming for the position he was being considered, the governor reasoned.

Landfield’s ‘Alaska Landmine’ has flat out and damn near libelously accused Wilson of ‘Upskirting’ the aide as well as the Senate Majority leadership of covering up the incident. If Landfield wanted to make a splash with his new blog whose tagline is “Explosive Political News,” then mission accomplished. The problem is these accusations were published without evidence beyond sketchy hearsay. Landfield filed a request for a copy of security footage that shows the incident. He was denied because the legislature office doesn’t release security footage to the public. That in itself might be a worthwhile journalistic battle to fight, but instead, Landfield kept pushing his allegations.

This forced Senator Wilson into defense mode, and after an internal investigation from the Alaska State Legislature Human Resource Office determined that though the incident was hostile in nature between the staffer and the Senator, it did not rise to the level of sexual harassment, nor of creating a hostile work environment.

Whatever Wilson was doing, he was definitely was not ‘upskirting’ the staffer.

Then came about the story of House Rep. Dean Westlake (D-Kiana) via the Anchorage Daily News that made the allegations against Wilson seem like really small potatoes.

It’s an interesting contrast to see the kind of news you get from a blogger and news you get from a legitimate news organization. Westlake was publicly accused of sexual harassment by Olivia Garrett, who worked for Rep. Scott Kawasaki (D-Fairbanks). The ADN’s Nathaniel Herz and Julia O’Malley then investigated the allegations further and unearthed six more female aides who had a similar experience with Rep. Westlake.

The ADN didn’t call for heads to roll or exploit the situation in any way. They did a fine piece of investigative journalism and the reaction was swift, including Westlake’s own party calling for him to step down. Westlake has apologized in one statement and says he will not step down in another. The facts seem to be overwhelming and what the State Legislature Human Resource department, his party and his colleagues will do from here, is yet to be determined.

When the Anchorage Daily News — then called the Alaska Dispatch News — was at its lowest point in bankruptcy proceedings and stories were posted on various news websites and social media the public comments were brutal. They ranged from vicious attacks on then Publisher’s Alice Rogoff’s so called political agenda to those hoping the “liberal rag” would shut down. Never mind the fact that 200-plus people were employed by the ADN. Never mind that a legitimate news source and the state newspaper of record, with more resources than any other media outlet in the state has at their disposal would disappear.

“Shut it down because I don’t agree with the opinion page!” the haters raged.

I hope that the stark difference between the way these two stories were covered and subsequently handled, will show that we have tremendous need for state and community newspapers. The real biased reporting is found in political blogs. I hope that readers do their own investigating before reaching any conclusion based on what they read from these blogs, whether at the local, state or galactic level.

My other hope is that the positive societal gains from the #metoo and No More movements aren’t used for exploitation. Any false allegations can be a serious step backward those who truly are victims.