I messed up the link. How do I re-do it? Sorry.
Once again, The Hutchinson News has to have the last word. The best way to view the Hutchinson News is as a comic book without pictures. They are the good guys and conservatives are the bad guys. I think they actually wear capes and masks around the newsroom.
http://www.hutchnews.com/past/06-24-2003/opinion/opinion1.html Wagle's defense
Sen. explains campaign against ed freedom
In a guest column published Sunday, Sen. Susan Wagle offered quite a rousing defense of her meddling in Kansas higher education.
The Wichita Republican almost had us convinced, too - until she failed to provide documentation to support her claims.
That might surprise readers on two counts.
First, Wagle wrote at length about the thorough documentation she had to support her allegations. Why didn't she supply copies of that documentation as requested? Only Wagle can answer for her non-responsiveness.
But that unwillingness could address one of her complaints - that the Statehouse press corps last session largely ignored the details of her allegations.
A legislator speaking on the floor of the Kansas Senate can rely on legislative privilege to shield her from libel or slander lawsuits. Reporters picking up on a legislator's allegations have a privilege only to the extent that they report the information precisely as stated. The slightest mistake could expose a publisher or broadcaster to a legal battle. Thus, if reporters encountered the same frustration in obtaining copies of the documentation that we experienced, they likely backed away from reporting the specifics.
Second, The News in the recent past has deleted unsubstantiated factual claims from other opinion submissions. But the newspaper published Wagle's claims. Why relax the standards?
The senator has carried her campaign against academic freedom at the University of Kansas from the floor of the Kansas Senate to the opinion columns of newspapers across the state. She made specific allegations and proclaims to hold documentation to back up each one.
Based on our research, however, some of those charges involve overstatement and outright misrepresentation. Perhaps printing the senator's allegations and allowing more people to read them will help establish their validity or expose their specious character.