Milwaukee Insight or Milwaukee Deceit?

On the "Milwaukee Insight" program this morning the first order of business was the school voucher debate. Accompanying host Charlie Sykes were panelists Mark Reardon, Mikel Holt, Jessica McBride, and Jeff Wagner. Notably, there wasn't a single voice from the Democratic side on this issue. Sykes in his blog and attack ad production, Reardon on his blog, Holt in his attack ad production, McBride on her blog, and Wagner on his blog have all consistently ignored the proposal--in varying degrees of deceit--made by Doyle to expand the voucher program in Milwaukee.

The conversation amounted to each one repeating the deceit they published in their blogs over the past couple weeks, while Holt added that Doyle is "feeling the political pressure" of this issue--namely from attack ads--and thus just choosing to come to the negotiating table now. While fiction can be fun, the reality is that Doyle made his proposal to expand the voucher program on November 4, 2005. That's right, Doyle's willingness to negotiate started over two months ago, long before any deceitful attack ads ran.

I'm not surprised that Sykes and the panelists on the program this morning presented the cases that they did. I mean, they've been deceitful on this issue for the past two weeks, why stop when they get on television? What is really troubling, however, is that the Journal Broadcast Group, which produces the "Milwaukee Insight" program, found it completely acceptable to give five people on the same side of this issue sole access to air time. Is this really doing a service to the public discussion on this issue?

If others feel as I do about this situation, I encourage them to contact the Journal Broadcast Group and express their feelings (414-332-9611, mstrachota@journalbroadcastgroup.com). The school voucher debate is too important of an issue to be presented in a one-sided (and ultimately deceitful) manner.