Photo by Nelson Campaign
By Thomas Warren III, Editor-in-Chief
There are some combinations that are meant to go together: peanut butter and jelly, bacon and eggs, and KAMR-TV and the Amarillo establishment.
In case you missed it this week, KAMR-TV published a report that took aim at several entities that received campaign contributions from Dealon, LLC, a company that is tied to local businessman Alex Fairly. Specifically, the report directly named Cole Stanley, Tom Scherlen, and the Amarillo Professional Firefighters Association as having taken money from Dealon, LLC. KAMR-TV anchor Jackie Kingston posted about the report on Facebook, spinning Fairly’s lawsuit that halted an illegal issuance of tax anticipation notes as Fairly “stalling” improvements to the Amarillo Civic Center.
Fast forward to Tuesday, and Mayor Ginger Nelson led a “discussion” — more like an informal hearing — regarding Dealon LLC’s donation to Stanley as a possible violation of City of Amarillo policy. Notably, she also dragged Scherlen into the discussion, as well as the Firefighters Association, despite the fact that neither Scherlen, nor any member of the Firefighters Association, currently sits on the City Council. And many of her talking points seemed to be lifted straight from the KAMR-TV report.
It really seems like clockwork in every local election cycle. You can always count on KAMR-TV to be there to set up the pins for the establishment to knock down. And they did it so well for Nelson again here.
I would like to also remind voters that KAMR-TV is the same television station that trashed Randy Burkett just days before the filing deadline in 2017. And this is the same news organization that has traditionally published criminal records of political candidates just days before the election, but has not once discussed Nelson’s role in the Commerce Building debacle that led to an FBI probe while she has been a candidate/officeholder.
Remember, this is also the same news station that has seen its reporters make an issue of the most trivial things imaginable in a campaign — like whether voters in the 2019 election cycle ended up with an unwanted yard sign in their front yard. Yes, I’m sure unwanted yard signs — which is an occasional accident that happens on any political campaign, especially when volunteers are helping — are a more important issue than wasting tax dollars, violent crime rates, and public corruption.
In my opinion, KAMR-TV has always been there to build a narrative for the establishment when their candidates are in a pickle. And that’s what they did for Nelson against Stanley. Luckily, judging by the reaction of the public at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, it doesn’t seem like KAMR or Nelson’s focus on Fairly or Stanley is resonating with voters.